As a gay woman, LGBTQIA+ experiences have shaped how I understand identity, belonging, and advocacy in very real and personal ways. There were times growing up and moving through school and early professional spaces when it felt safer to stay quiet about parts of who I was. That is something a lot of LGBTQIA+ people learn early. You learn to read rooms, to decide when it is safe to speak openly, and when it might be easier to let people make assumptions. Living with that awareness shaped how I see the world and how deeply I value environments where people can show up fully as themselves. Those experiences directly influence how I show up for others, especially in education. As a teacher, I see students every day who are still figuring out who they are while also trying to navigate expectations from peers, families, and society. I know how isolating it can feel to believe you are different or that parts of you might not be accepted. Because of that, I work intentionally to create spaces where students feel safe asking questions, expressing themselves, and knowing they belong. Sometimes that looks like open classroom conversations. Sometimes it is as simple as being a consistent, safe adult in the room. I never want a student to feel like they have to shrink themselves to succeed. Being part of the LGBTQIA+ community has also strengthened my resilience and empathy. It taught me early that systems, policies, and social attitudes can shape whether people feel safe, supported, or invisible. That understanding is a big reason I am pursuing a career in law and public service. I want to work in spaces where I can help make systems more fair and more protective of people who have historically been pushed to the margins. I want to be part of work that helps ensure people can live openly and safely without fear of discrimination. On a personal level, learning to accept and advocate for myself changed how I approach everything. It gave me confidence in my voice and helped me understand how important it is to speak up for others too. I have learned that representation matters, but active support matters just as much. Small moments of support can change how safe someone feels in a classroom, workplace, or community. Ultimately, being a gay woman has shaped how I define leadership and responsibility. It has pushed me to build spaces where people feel respected and valued. It has strengthened my commitment to pursuing work that helps create more inclusive and equitable environments. More than anything, it has taught me the importance of making sure people know they belong exactly as they are.

I want to build pathways. Not just for myself, but for the students, families, and communities I serve. As an educator preparing to transition into the legal field, I see every day how much talent and potential exists in people who just have not been given the same access or opportunities. What I want to build is a life and career that helps close that gap. To me, building the future means helping create spaces and systems where people feel confident using their voice and believing they belong in rooms that make decisions about their lives. Professionally, I am working toward building a career in law centered on service and advocacy. Teaching government and civics has shown me how much law shapes everyday life, often in ways people do not notice until it affects them directly. I want to help make legal systems feel less intimidating and more accessible to the people they are meant to serve. Whether that means working in public service, advocating for students and families, or helping shape policy, I want to help build trust between communities and the systems designed to support them. Personally, I want to build a life grounded in integrity, accountability, and service to others. I want to build strong relationships based on mentorship, support, and mutual respect. I want to be the kind of person who opens doors for others the way teachers, mentors, and community members opened doors for me. Building my future is not just about professional success. It is about becoming someone who makes it easier for others to succeed too. I also want to build environments where people feel safe asking questions, learning, and growing. As a teacher, I have seen how powerful it is when someone feels heard and respected for the first time. I want to carry that into my future career by helping create systems where people feel valued, especially in spaces where power differences can make people feel invisible. The positive impact I hope this creates is both personal and community based. Personally, it allows me to live in alignment with my values of fairness, responsibility, and community. For my community, I hope it means one more person working to make systems more fair, more accessible, and more human. Ultimately, I want to help build a future where opportunity is not something people have to chase alone, but something communities help create together.

My interest in free expression comes from what I see every day as a high school AP U.S. Government teacher and from the way I was raised to think about civic responsibility. I grew up around people who believed you speak up when something is wrong, you ask hard questions, and you do not back down just because a conversation is uncomfortable. That mindset followed me into education and now shapes how I approach both teaching and my path toward law. In my classroom, free speech is not just something students memorize for a test. It is something they are trying to figure out how to use in real time. A lot of students walk in unsure if their opinions matter, or worried that saying the “wrong” thing will get them shut down socially or academically. I work hard to build a space where students can challenge ideas, debate policy, and disagree respectfully without feeling like they have to shrink themselves to fit in. When students realize they can speak, question authority, and still be taken seriously, you can see their confidence change. Teaching government right now often feels like a form of everyday, boots on the ground civic advocacy. I design lessons where students tackle real issues, analyze Supreme Court speech cases, and look at how protest, journalism, and dissent actually move societies forward. I make it clear that democracy is not quiet and it is not comfortable. It is built on people being willing to speak, even when it is unpopular. At the same time, I am intentional about making sure students who do not always see themselves reflected in positions of power know their voices belong in these conversations too. Outside the classroom, I support student journalism, encourage civic engagement, and advocate for keeping schools places where students can talk about real world issues honestly. To me, free expression only works if people are willing to actively protect it, especially for young people who are still learning how their voices fit into civic life. My academic work in history and global education reinforced this perspective. Studying societies where speech eroded slowly, not all at once, made it clear how fragile expression can be if people assume someone else will defend it. That understanding is a big reason I am pursuing law. I want to use the law to protect free expression in spaces where power differences are real, including schools, public institutions, and systems that directly affect young people and underserved communities. Free expression, to me, is not just about the right to speak. It is about making sure people feel safe enough to speak and that their voices actually matter when they do. At the end of the day, I believe people deserve the space to question, challenge, and participate fully in civic life, and I want to spend my career helping protect that right.