You're unique, you're perfect, you're one of a kind, and everyone is already taken so just be yourself. These are all things my family has said but it can be kind of hard being yourself when you grow up in the middle of nowhere surrounded by peers who seem to just be carbon copies of their parents and we all know human nature is to kill anything that is different or misunderstood. I spent most of my childhood trying to fit into their cowboys and cheerleader dream but I never like cheer and none of the cowboys liked having a trans cowboy in the ring with them, sure we were all competing against each other but it always felt like they were competing agents me first and there boys second. It probably didn't help that I came from a good last name in the 4h world but couldn't ever meet the achievements of my mom and aunts. I was good at showmanship but I could never beat my aunt's record of youngest showmen of showmen. Sure I would have loved to be the rabbit queen like my mother but sadly my hair was too short to run for queen and no way were they going to let the trans dude be king. I've had to play with the cards I was given and sadly it seems 4h wasn't going to be my path. It took me a long time to swallow that pill 4h was always my life but now it's my last year and I'm no longer a part of the club I was in scents birth, I've had to find myself and my own path. In the time I have spent finding the path for me, I had to let go of a lot of things, I let go of a defining part of my life 4h, and left the high school that always made me feel like an outsider. It was a hard choice but I realized that if I stayed trying to fit into my old path I would never be able to truly embrace the person I wanted to be, I could never be everyone else and I had to learn how to be myself. After switching to my new online school and my college courses, I realized that I had to find my own community and what made me me. So back to your question of what makes me unique? Before I couldn't answer this but now I can say that what makes me unique is that I am confident in my identity, I am determined, I am academically smart and I am selfless to a fault. Once I finish college I am going to work as a nurse where I plan to work in LGBTQ healthcare centers around the world as a travel nurse so that I can help others in my community all over the world and help in any way I can.

The first job I remember wanting was to be a dolphin trainer because I watched "H2O just add water" way too much, but after I got out of that phase I knew I wanted to help I just wasn't sure how. My mind went from being a teacher to help students feel safe and become their best selves to the thought of being a social worker so I could have with the homeless and mental health problems I saw in my hometown and, now I think I'm going to be a travel nurse so I can travel to different parts of the world and help people in need; but I don't just want to make a difference in the future I want to make one now. I have always been interested in making my school and community better. I spent my 8th-grade year working with my school's social worker and principal to get a Mozaic group in our district. After a year of talking it over we got the club. Now Wapak High School has this safe space for LGBTQ students and allies, where we can come up with ideas that will help make the school a safer place with less discrimination. Now it is my junior year and I'm longer a Wapak student but I still hear from the club weekly and I'm really proud to see how many new members have joined. As for myself, I am now a student at ACE Academy in Wapak where I take two high school classes along with three classes at the Wright State Lake Campus as a CCP student. Although I can no longer help around my old school I am still finding ways to help my community by working with my 4h group. Every year my group the Stars and Strips club and myself volunteer to make easter cards for nursing homes in our area. Even though it seems small I always look forward to when I can do this because it is amazing how such a small thing to us, can make such a large impact on their day. I think that's going to be all from me today, I got to pick up my siblings in a few minutes goodbye. And to whoever reads this I hope you have a great rest of your day and can find something that makes your day just a little bit brighter.