I was diagnosed with dyslexia by 1st grade. I didn't know what it meant, but I knew I couldn't read well. That was also when I began to become aware of my social anxiety. People think dyslexia is just about flipping letters. For me, it looks like everything is moving. It affects every aspect of your life, and especially school. I was pulled out of class for extra help, and everyone noticed. My friends would make jokes that I was not smart, and my social anxiety grew. I made myself small at school, I didn’t want to draw attention to anything I did. Middle school was awful. I often felt physically ill because of my anxiety so I was absent a lot. I pulled away from my old friends and didn’t make new ones. Reading is so hard that I stayed off of social media. In retrospect this was probably the best thing I could have done, imagining now how that would have triggered my anxiety, but it also made me feel even less connected. I was sure it would only get worse in high school. That was true for the first 2 years of high school. Even though I was a great soccer player and made the competitive JV team as a freshman, I never felt like I fit in with my teammates. Their effortless camaraderie with each other seemed unattainable to me, I generally felt like an awkward outcast. I began to use drugs and alcohol to self medicate. In junior year I was eligible to go to the career-tech school culinary program. I was not sure I would like it, but I thought this would be a good way to try it out. It was amazing. I finally felt like I was the smart one in class and I knew things that other students didn't know. No one cared that I misspelled things, they cared about my knife skills and my creative dishes. My classmates were like me, kids who didn’t feel like they fit in at traditional school. I finally started to feel like I had found my people, friends who understood that I may be a little awkward and shy, but that I was a loyal and trustworthy friend and that was what really mattered. I also gained confidence by finally having something I excelled at in school. Years of dealing with the daily stress of my social anxiety had taken their toll though,and I wasn't sure I wanted to go. After high school I took a semester off. I felt college was very important to my future career and earning potential though, so I decided to try community college. Due to Covid it was all online, so I didn't have to feel nervous or embarrassed in front of other students. I was also working in a restaurant and enjoying my job and the knowledge I did it well. I realized I was becoming excited about my future possibilities and knew that I wanted to have this as a career. I applied to Johnson & Wales and started in fall 2021. I quit drugs and alcohol, I now realize they made me more anxious. I work with a therapist and use my past experiences as a guide to lessen my anxiety. I now find friends that accept and value me as I am, and use my new areas of confidence to help grow it in other areas. Though I don’t think I will ever be anxiety free, everyday I learn more to manage it. .

I am a 23 year old student and like Mrs. Champagne, I have a passion for cooking and am majoring in Culinary Arts. Growing up, my parents instilled that volunteering was something everyone should do. In our own community and beyond, there was always some program they were supporting or raising funds for. From that example, as well as my participation in these projects, it has always been something I find time for no matter what. My brothers are from Ethiopia, and as a family we have done several projects there. We held fundraisers where we did things like cooking and serving a huge Ethiopian meal, cookie decorating booths, and raffles. Those funds were used to build a school, dig a well, and give money to a tree nursery for reforestation in my brother's village. They were memorable events in my elementary school days. As we got older, my mom encouraged us to find something we were passionate about to volunteer with. On our trips to Ethiopia, we noticed that the kids were often playing soccer with balls made out of tightly rolled plastic trash bags. We wanted to try to bring them real balls, so my mom helped my brother and I organize a way. We would collect donations of school supplies and lightly used sports equipment to bring to Ethiopia on our visits. Even though we were young, we had several responsibilities to ensure everything ran smoothly. From sending requests for donations, collecting them and packing, it all took a lot of time, but the face of a kid that just received a real soccer ball made it all worth it. One year during the war in Syria we even were able to expand the effort and brought items to refugee camps in Greece and Turkey. I now realize how much I had learned from that experience, like the skills I developed for organization and communication. In college, it became harder to find time. I have severe dyslexia which makes school work take much longer for me than most students. I also pay for all of my own living and school expenses, so I work full time. In high school I loved my experience volunteering at a soup kitchen, but I realized that I would no longer be able to do a set schedule. I thought back to how my mom encouraged us to find our passion, and realized that my love of gardening would be the perfect opportunity to give. I now grow approximately 200 lbs of produce a year from my garden and make 20 prepared meals that I donate to my local Community Fridge in New Bedford MA. I love that this combines 2 of my favorite things - cooking and gardening - and that I can volunteer on my own schedule in a way that immediately helps people in my community. Though my academic and financial responsibilities have evolved over the years, I've found ways to continue giving back in ways that align with my interests and schedule, and I intend to continue that. My future plans are to open my own restaurant and have an active supportive presence in our community with things like fundraising nights and other charitable endeavors. Volunteering remains a central part of who I am and how I choose to engage with the world around me. As I continue on my life and education journey, I know I will always make time to do so. Volunteering has shown me the power of community, the importance of empathy, and the joy that comes from making a positive impact.

It is not a single situation, but an ongoing one. My learning disability has shaped every aspect of my personality, life and school. I was diagnosed with dyslexia at a very young age. I didn't know what it meant, but I knew I couldn't read well and I felt like my schoolmates thought I was not smart. People think dyslexia is just about flipping letters. For me, it looks like everything is moving. It affects every aspect of your life – imagine having to work hard at even the easiest reading – a street sign, a price sticker. Every time you write, people judge you on your spelling. Reading even for short periods of time gives me very bad headaches, especially if the lights where I am reading are very bright. This is especially frustrating, because even when I want to read it sometimes becomes too much for me physically. I had to figure out how I was going to succeed in spite of my learning disability. I am someone who doesn't give up, I'm a problem solver and I think outside the box. I needed to find ways to access the material, so I put those skills to use. Other students may get their information from the written word, I tape lectures instead of writing notes. It takes a bit of searching sometimes, but I source audio versions of books we need to read so I can listen to them instead. I find videos of techniques I am learning instead of relying on just the book. I try to use multiple ways to get the information we are learning. Writing papers and essays like this are a big challenge. I use tools like spell check, scribes, and edit many times. I made sure that my college would be a place where my disability would be well supported with an exceptionally well run student center that helps students like me with accommodations. I have to keep in constant communication with the student center and my teachers so that I can get the help I need and have the right accommodations for tests. It takes a lot of coordination and attention to detail to make sure I have everything I need for school, and I am proud of how I have been able to manage it all in addition to working full time. It takes much longer than it would for the average student and does not leave a lot of time for extracurricular activities. I feel like my GPA proves how hard I work to not only meet the challenge of my learning disabilities but excel. I have no doubt that this challenge and how I constantly have had to work to overcome it will help me in my life and career.

Some of my earliest memories are “working” in my moms bakery. To this day my mom still likes to tell stories of me doing training for new employees on how to decorate cookies, because even at 5 years old I was the fastest. I even had my own little broom for helping to clean. I always felt at home in a kitchen. I was diagnosed with “profound dyslexia” in 1st grade. School has never been a comfortable place for me, but once I was old enough I went out and got my first job. Even though it was work it was like a break for me, doing something I loved and was good at. Kitchens can be stressful places, but I enjoy the fast pace and thinking on your feet needed. I considered not continuing on after high school, but I knew that attending college would help me with the skills to excel in my culinary career and help me achieve my dream of owning my own place. After high school graduation I started by taking a few courses in community college to work my way up to a full time school schedule, and transferred to my university in 2021 Due to my learning disability, school work takes me much longer to complete than it does for most students. I also pay for all of my school and living expenses, so I work full time. This does not leave a lot of time for extra-curricular activities but I have made sure to make the most of every job, treating it like an extension of my school and an opportunity to learn. I have been lucky to have some great bosses who were happy to teach me anything I asked about and understood when I occasionally had to change my schedule because of school needs. I also use my employment to work on my real life leadership skills. Sometimes that means being an actual leader, sometimes that means watching others to understand how they lead and incorporating the good parts into my leadership style. It is not easy to maintain this schedule. Sometimes I get tired, sometimes I have to miss out on things because I have a project due or I have to work. However, I am proud of the academic success and GPA I have achieved and have been able to maintain even when I work full time. But just as equally, I am proud of the skills and responsibility I have gained by working.