Sandi grew up in a middle class home in rural Maryland. Her childhood lacked nothing materially. 

In high school, she began to feel an unexplainable sadness. It was the first thing she felt in the morning and the last thing she felt before falling asleep. 

She and her friends smoked marijuana and had deep philosophical discussions about the meaning of life. Nothing she heard explained her sadness. 

Her marijuana-induced philosophy provided little direction for her life. Her performance in Jr. College was lackluster. She got a low paying, but steady, job while she lived at home. 

One day as she was leaving for work, she overheard a conversation between her mother and the mother of one of her friends. Her friend's name was Valerie. According to Valerie's mother, Valerie had brought home a box and was chanting to it everyday. Sandy thought to herself: "Chanting to a box. Valerie must have taken too much acid and lost her mind." 

The next time Sandi saw Valerie she asked her what was going on. Valerie didn't know too much, but she did tell Sandi about "Nam Myoho-renge-kyo." The sound of Nam Myoho-renge-kyo sparked something deep inside Sandi's heart. 

Sandi wanted to know more, so Valerie dropped her off at the D.C. Community Center. When Sandi found her way to the Main Hall she heard the most beautiful sound she had ever heard in her life. It was the sound of Gongyo. She wanted to make that sound herself. 

When Sandi learned to chant and do Gongyo, her sadness melted away. 

Sandi had always wanted to be a manager. She thought that she would make a good one. Even though she never got her college degree, the training she gained in the SGI provided her with the "people skills" she needed. She is now a manager of many CPAs and other people who have college degrees. 

Her district grew so much that it just became a chapter with three districts. 

The Gosho reads, and Sandi's life confirms: 

"If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured through eternity and attain supreme enlightenment in this lifetime, you must awaken to the mystic truth which has always been within your life. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth within you." (from "On Attaining Buddhahood")