Spring 2025 Winner of the Moving Forward Scholarship

Jennifer Gardiner

In her essay, Jennifer shares her inspiring journey of overcoming adversity and transforming her life. After speaking at her daughter’s school, she realized her calling was to help others find the tools to avoid abusive and toxic relationships. Motivated by her desire to make a difference, Jennifer pursued a college education and built a meaningful career. Congratulations, Jennifer, and we look forward to all you will continue to accomplish!

Read Jennifer’s essay here:

People don’t think forward enough into the future to recognize their behaviors or actions could have long-term consequences. When we go down the wrong path, we create obstacles in our future we never expected, and negative outcomes for years to come. Growing up I did decent in school, took care of my disabled mom and sister, was a cheerleader and ballerina, and worked to pay for my things so my mother did not have to. I did not think far into the future, because I had no idea what that looked like. I was not born into a turbulent life, and my childhood was simple growing up in a small town in Oregon.

At 16, my mom moved us to Utah where I spent my senior year living on my own due to family differences. By the time I was 24, I was married to an alcoholic and had two young children. I started stealing from my employer to support my family but eventually got caught. It was scary as I had never been to jail, and I had a family to take care of. I was never charged but the arrest lingered on my background for theft without a disposition.

Eventually, we divorced and I met my 2nd husband when I was 27. We started using drugs, which led to dependency and difficult financial times. We broke the law to get money and over the next 7 years, I racked up several charges. My husband was very physically abusive, and the decisions I made had smaller consequences in comparison to the life I was living at the time.

I ended up with a criminal mischief DV charge for throwing a picture frame outside my door. I was charged with theft by deception after spending counterfeit money someone else had given me. I had a charge for using my debit card when I knew I did not have money in the bank, and I ended up with a theft charge for putting money onto a gift card without putting money into the till when I worked for a convenience store. It was a trail of petty charges that followed me for a long time.

On March 31, 2006, my husband nearly killed me in a drug-induced rage. At this time I had three children. 10 & 13-year-old girls and a 1-year-old son. The girls had grown up seeing me being abused multiple times and spent many nights feeling helpless and scared due to my husband's bipolar disorder and drug-induced schizophrenia. Not to mention what our subsequent drug use did to them. I knew my kids deserved a mom who was present. A mom who could do typical mom things, I knew then we had to change. I had to change.

It took years for me to get back on my feet. That night not only nearly cost me my life, but it cost us the financial stability we had. I had to have multiple reconstructive surgeries, went through several jobs over my medical issues, and lost my spouse's income due to his incarceration and ultimately our divorce. But with my past criminal charges, I was unable to get a job at places like McDonald's or 7-11. I did not want to apply anywhere that would run my background, it was embarrassing and my background made people think I was untrustworthy. I always needed more than one job to get by, and the part-time jobs I could get always said no due to those prior convictions. I also wanted a career, but knowing what any new employer might see in my past, I never went for the jobs I knew I was qualified for. I was in financial ruin and lost in what direction I was headed.

Miraculously through the help of a village of people in the community and my family, we managed to survive. In 2014 I was asked by my youngest daughter who was in high school, to come speak about what our life was like when we lived in abuse to her class. It turned out to be one of the most uplifting experiences in my life and I was asked to come back and repeat that talk to every class this teacher had for the next 5 years.

After that first class, I realized I was meant for something bigger than just the little world we were living in. I could use my experience to help others never go through what we did. Give them tools and resources to stay out of abusive and toxic relationships and learn how to rebuild their own lives.

The last ten years have been hard, but also full of joy. I have filled my days up with community engagements, public speaking events, and volunteering with multiple domestic violence organizations all while raising my kids, going to college, building a career, and starting our new life without abuse. I successfully expunged my criminal record with the help of Utah’s expungement day. This has allowed me to work multiple jobs and climb to financial stability. I dedicated my time and energy to my job at ABC4 and am now a regional producer for Nexstar. I have spent 10 years going to school part-time and have two associate's degrees in Criminal Justice (AAS and AS) and will finish my bachelor’s degree next semester. I am on the board of Passionate Wings, a local nonprofit where we are expanding into services to help women find the resources to rebuild their lives. Once funded, I will transition to this organization on a full-time basis, finally fulfilling my passion and dreams and truly making a difference.

I overcame some difficult challenges that led to being able to provide for my family and watch them grow into amazing adults. Seeing them happy means more to me than anything in the world and it shows that it is never too late to improve yourself and your life.