As a queer woman of color, I am no stranger to bullying. Both through personal experiences and ones from within my community, I have been exposed to bullying for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was called a “dirty immigrant” in elementary school, I have always wanted to be an advocate that fosters change in the world, and I have stuck with that dream. Not only do I want to foster change as an attorney, but I have also had numerous experiences throughout high school in which I worked with my peers to better our community. Being a change agent is one of the biggest defining factors of my high school experience, whether it be organizing walkouts, leading a canned food drive to raise over 14,000 cans for families, raising almost $30,000 with a team for blood cancer research, or starting my own national nonprofit organization, I have been privileged enough to find or foster opportunities to help my community. One of the biggest catalysts for this mindset in high school occurred my freshman year when one of my close friends was being bullied for being transgender. People were harassing him in messages and posting hateful commentary on Instagram. I immediately told my mom, and I was able to work with her and the school administration to end the cyberbullying. I reported the person that was sending the messages, and told the administration that they needed to get the hateful Instagram account taken down, and luckily it was effective. Later that year, my peers and I worked to organize a school-wide walkout to protest homophobia and transphobia, and there was an excellent turnout. Though it was not my first encounter with bullying, it was the first time that I had control over the situation, and it has influenced my values regarding safe internet use. I am a firm believer that youth accounts need to be entirely parent monitored, as this can make parents aware of potential conflicts, mediating the situation before it gets out of hand. However, not all cyberbullies are children, and that makes the issue more complicated. I have experienced this first hand with my national nonprofit, Empowerment Beyond Assault Coalition. One of the main ways I have been able to communicate about sexual assault facts is through social media; however, on my platform, I have gotten a fair share of hateful comments due to my commentary about sexual assault related policies, and many of these comments were from adults. I have been able to manage these comments by deleting them or responding in a respectful manner, but it is difficult to face hate on an issue that is incredibly personal to me. The epidemic of adults making commentary about children online is a huge problem, and education about cyberbullying, parent-monitored accounts, and reporting hate are important ways to protect children.. I truly believe in preventing cyberbullying and protecting mental health. As a student hoping to study public policy to join the legal field, I hope to foster change in our policies regarding these issues. However, in order to do that, I need to be able to afford education, which is currently a struggle for me. Despite my parents’ incomes, I will be paying for college primarily on my own, meaning that I will have to take out significant loans unless I can get scholarships. With these loans, I will not be able to feasibly afford law school, which is a problem for my long-term goals. I know I can change the world, I just need the resources to do so.