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MANSFIELD

"My life could be on Oprah," Mansfield High School senior Krystal Orrell said with a wry smile as she ticked off the challenges she faced growing up.

The state Department of Social Services took Krystal and her two sisters from their mother, who was struggling with a drug addiction, when she was a toddler.

By the age of 6, Krystal and her sisters were living with their third foster family.

By the age of 13, their mother was dead. "We had a tough life," she said. "Most people haven't gone through the stuff we went through."

But another thing happened when Krystal was 7. She and her sisters were adopted by a loving Mansfield couple, Donald and Pamela Orrell.

After struggling in school when she was young, Krystal brought her grades up in high school, achieving honors throughout her senior year.

And despite the challenges she's faced, Krystal harbors no bitterness toward her late mother.

"You can't just be angry," she said. "She loved us. She had an addiction. I was never mad at her, ever."

Krystal is a devout Christian, and her faith has given her strength. This fall she will attend Nyack College, a private Christian liberal arts college in Nyack, N.Y., on a half-tuition scholarship.

She plans to become a youth minister and work with inner-city children and teenagers.