An important community to me is my rather small and close-knit family that is composed mainly of adults. Aside from interactions with my younger sister, I’ve spent most of my life engaging with family members from my parents' generation and their parents' generation. As a member of this college-educated, heavily opinionated and vocal family, I am no stranger to discussing heavy topics. After all, having intellectual conversation is the way my family and I enjoy bonding. When I was a lot younger, I started off as a listener in these conversations. I remember hearing my family discuss topics such as how policing in America affects the Black community, the prevalence of single parent households in the Black community, or how Black celebrities are displayed in the media. Despite being too young to have a substantial opinion on the subject matter myself, it was always very interesting to see how the opinions of my family members, from two separate generations, could both differ and intersect at the same time. As I grew older though, I started to formulate my own opinions regarding the lively topics that my family always discussed. I remember one time discussing the different ways in which members of my family refer to our community. It was a very interesting conversation because my grandparents’ generation still refers to us as Negroes, my parents’ generation refers to us as Black people, and I stated that many in my generation refer to ourselves as African-Americans. While a lot of my other opinions started off similar to those of the members of my family, I have grown to develop my own unique opinions as well. I now engage in many conversations where my voice is the differing voice because the two older generations in my family don’t view a topic the same way that I and other people in my generation do. I can recall having a conversation with my family about social media where my opinion was the outlier. My parents’ generation identified many of the flaws of social media and my grandparents’ generation had similar sentiments. Despite their shared disapproval for social media, I felt the need to inform them on many of the positive ways social media has affected the lives of people in my generation: providing entertainment and being a platform to advocate for important causes are just a couple. Coming to this point in my life has been pivotal because I now have to balance a very important aspect of my African-American community, “respecting your elders'', with having the confidence to express my own contradictory opinions. Since my family has always encouraged me to use my voice, even if that meant disagreeing with my elders, I developed the confidence to advocate for myself and others even if not in a position of relative power. This aspect of my identity has made an impact on my daily life because it developed my desire to use my voice, whether it be in an educational setting or when I witness an injustice. More importantly, though, I have learned to value this aspect of my identity over the years because the strong cross-generational relationships that exist within my family have exposed us all to valuable perspectives that enrich each of our lives.

I joined my school club, Freshmen Mentors, because of the dilemma I ran into during my first year of high school: The Chicago Public Schools system is set up in such a way that counselors cannot adequately address each student’s individual needs because of the disparity between the number of counselors and students within a high school. I can recall asking my counselor ways I could stand out to colleges to which she responded that I still had plenty of time until I needed to worry about that. My concern had been disregarded. It was in this one instance that I realized I would have to rely heavily on myself to prepare for college. Recognizing that other student concerns, as well as my own, were not being addressed by the administration, I took action. I started by discussing summer programs, rigorous course options, and volunteer opportunities with friends. This initiative is what then led me to pursue Freshmen Mentors; I was able to join a larger community of students whose goals were the same as mine. As a mentor, I have been able to inform students about the things I wish I was told about when I was their age. During the school year, I encourage them to join clubs, form bonds with their teachers, and take up leadership positions. I also give them advice on how to maintain good grades and how to navigate social life as a new student in a large school. In addition to being their “mentor”, I take pride in being their friend as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the senior with the most freshmen friends because I always make sure to wave to them in the hallway. I want them to know that they will always have me as a friend. My work during the school year, however, is a smaller portion of what I do for Freshmen Mentors. The majority of my engagement with this club takes place over the summer with Freshmen Connection. This two-week initiative takes place right before the school year so that freshmen have the opportunity to meet other students and get acquainted with the school. The first day of this enrichment program is called “Freshmen Orientation”; This is the day parents and students come in together to get a tour of the school. As president of Freshmen Mentors, I am the student leader in charge of running this event. I gave speeches to the 750+ crowd of people, directed students and parents around the school, and answered any questions/concerns. Freshmen Mentors has been a huge part of my high school career and I enjoy all of the adventures that come along with the freshmen class. In all, leading this club is my favorite way to give back to my high school community.

My rather small and close-knit family is composed mainly of adults. Aside from interactions with my younger sister, I’ve spent most of my life engaging with family members from my parents' generation and their parents' generation. As a member of this college-educated, heavily opinionated and vocal family, I am no stranger to discussing heavy topics. After all, having intellectual conversation is the way my family and I enjoy bonding. When I was a lot younger, I started as a listener in these conversations. I remember hearing my family discuss topics such as how policing in America affects the Black community, the prevalence of single-parent households in the Black community, or how Black celebrities are displayed in the media. Despite being too young to have a substantial opinion on the subject matter myself, it was always very interesting to see how the opinions of my family members, from two separate generations, could both differ and intersect at the same time. As I grew older though, I started to formulate my own opinions regarding the lively topics that my family always discussed. I remember one time discussing the different ways in which members of my family refer to our community. It was a very interesting conversation because my grandparents’ generation still refers to us as Negroes, my parents’ generation refers to us as Black people, and I stated that many in my generation refer to ourselves as African-Americans. While a lot of my other opinions started off similar to those of the members of my family, I have grown to develop my own unique opinions as well. I now engage in many conversations where my voice is the differing voice because the two older generations in my family don’t view a topic the same way that I and other people in my generation do. I can recall having a conversation with my family about social media where my opinion was the outlier. My parents’ generation identified many of the flaws of social media and my grandparents’ generation had similar sentiments. Despite their shared disapproval of social media, I felt the need to inform them of many of the positive ways social media has affected the lives of people in my generation: providing entertainment and being a platform to advocate for important causes are just a couple. Coming to this point in my life has been pivotal because I now have to balance a very important aspect of my African-American community, “respecting your elders'', with having the confidence to express my own contradictory opinions. Since my family has always encouraged me to use my voice, even if that meant disagreeing with my elders, I developed the confidence to advocate for myself and others even if not in a position of relative power. This aspect of my identity has made an impact on my daily life because it developed my desire to use my voice, whether it be in class or when I witness an injustice. More importantly, though, I have learned to value this aspect of my identity over the years because the strong cross-generational relationships that exist within my family have exposed us all to valuable perspectives that enrich each of our lives.