2023 Holt Adoptee Scholarship Winner: Mimi Albano

Congratulations to the 2023 Holt Adoptee Scholarship Winners — Dibora Holland, Maren (Mimi) Albano and Olivia Naser.

In 2023, we asked adoptee to submit a creative work responding to the prompt, “Dear Birth Family…” This topic was chosen by adoptee professionals who work in post-adoption services, and approved by social workers within the department. They chose this prompt in order to offer adoptees creative freedom in a safe environment to tell their story and describe their adoption journey. What these adoptees came up with is remarkable!

Mimi Albano’s self-choreographed dance moved the judges with its creativity. Mimi Albano is a freshman at Berry College in Rome, GA, in a pre-dental program. She has been a competitive dancer since she was 5 years old.

To introduce her dance, Mimi wrote, “Dancer. Artist. Dreamer. Goal-seeker. Doer. Believer. Student of life. Adoptee. 

All of the above words describe me. Together they represent pieces of me that when woven together create the whole me, much like this dance that you see. Within this self-choreographed dance, notice the hints of my unknown past intertwined with my current upbringing with my adoptive family who encourage me to dream and finally, a nod to my bright and optimistic future.  

My movement characterizes the waves of emotions I’ve experienced throughout my short life – emotions that I try to use for good and always try to find meaning in. I dance through confusion, elation, sorrow and all of life’s ups and downs. Birth family, thank you. You made me, you created me, you forfeited a life with me because of circumstances I may never know, however, I respect your decision and please know that I love my life and I love you. This dance is for you; may you see the depth and range of emotion as I attempt to convey all of what I’ve navigated through so far in life and a snip of hopefulness my future may bring.”