I started out at a school level, getting involved with leadership within our Gay Straight Alliance. Then I sought out local community organizations to network with other Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) leaders. I found an organization called GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network) that was assembling a youth leadership board, so I helped out as one of the youth directors...
It was no baptism in the traditional sense, but my midwinter dunking in the frigid waters of Lake Winnebago sure felt like a rebirth.Mere seconds earlier, I had been perched on the precipice, gooseflesh raised against the biting chill. The rubber traction on my sneakers struggled to cling to the slick platform as I peered into the dark, whipping waves below...
The Oshkosh West Index – our school newspaper – has frequently served this purpose. What more apt mechanism exists to change a mind, to spark a movement, or to change the world, than writing? I have always been a storyteller. As a child, I filled notebooks with my elaborate accounts of Polly Pocket drama: my pen could hardly keep pace with my overflowing imagination...
On January 2, 2012, adversity struck my family. My grandmother severely injured her legs. My family needed to send money for her surgery immediately. With my parents’ low-paying jobs, this was something my family would not be able to afford, so my parents spent days calling relatives to borrow money. With nowhere else to turn, my mother sold her most precious possession, her wedding ring. After two sleepless days filled with anxiety, my parents gathered enough money, but little did I know that the most devastating moment had yet to happen...
Buzzing with chatter, the auditorium was filled with college students averaging about a foot taller than me. Navigating half-confidently through the unfamiliar crowd, I motioned to my teammate, a fellow high school student, to come over and help claim some empty spots for our other two teammates. We then had a casual conversation with college sophomores from Michigan as the rest of our team arrived and the commencement began. For me, that was the start of one of the best experiences of my life: my first hackathon, PennApps 2013, the renowned nationwide hackathon at the University of Pennsylvania...
Stepping onto the field as a cohesive unit and playing our hearts out was always the best moment in marching band. Before and after performing, we would talk, laugh, and sing, but when the time came to perform, we would become serious, passionately committed to bringing our best show to the audience...
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