My earliest memories regarding sexuality and gender involve my mother asking me if I was a lesbian because I spent a lot of time with my friend, who was also a girl. This was around age 9. Following this, there were conversations with my mother that involved her saying she "didn't care if I was gay" but that she just wanted "grandbabies", when prompted with conversations regarding adoption and more recently, the fact that I do not want kids at all, she has said that she wants "real grandbabies". Because of these conversations with my mother from an early age, I have always felt incredibly insecure about my sexuality, and have always felt as though I am simply straight. As I have moved on to college and discovered the associated freedom from my mother I have been able to begin thinking about how I feel, without her hurtful and damaging stereotypes regarding my sexuality and future. As I have moved on to college, I have also been able to explore what interests me, in the realm of academics. During my first year, I changed my major three times. As of now, I am a Gender Studies and Sociology double major. Throughout my first year, I took classes and engaged with ideas surrounding the methods in which society views gender and the nuances that surround gender and sexuality. I hope to graduate with a BA in Gender Studies and Sociology, then I would like to move on to law school. While I have big hopes as a first-generation college student, I am incredibly confident that I have enough passion and drive to pursue a degree in Law. When I reveal my major and education path to most people, they prompt me, in an incredibly judging tone, "And what do you intend to do with that". Every. Single. Time. This has been so tiring to pursue this conversation over and over, however, I believe that this demonstrates the importance for me to pursue this line of education. While I am aware that Gender Studies is not exactly a common major for law school, it will allow me to be incredibly successful in my future career. I hope to become a prosecution lawyer, pursuing sex-based crimes. This involves not only sexually violent crimes but also crimes in which LGBTQ+ individuals find themselves the victim, which can include hate crimes. This is a particularly 'heavy' career, which is incredibly emotionally and mentally demanding. Despite this, I am incredibly excited and willing to engage in this line of work, as I hope to be able to make a difference in people's lives while they are coping with the tragedy that they have recently been a victim of. I am also incredibly excited to pursue a line of advocacy involving LGBTQ+ youth, and how they are valid in their feelings and emotions regarding a difficult time throughout their lives as they attempt to sort out their identities. I believe this will be incredibly important especially in light of recent events throughout our country, including the 'Don't Say Gay Bill' introduced in Florida. While I am aware that I will not be able to make tremendous differences on my own, I hope that my addition to advocacy that is already in the works will be enough to encourage change and culture shifts.

I embody selflessness by understanding that no matter what is going on in my life, everyone else is also experiencing hardships, difficulties, or even successes. It is also incredibly important to me to understand that others are living a life that is entirely separate from mine, and they don't know everything that is going on in my life- and vice versa. This has been incredibly important to me throughout my first year of college, as I've been growing and maturing. Most people seem to have misconceptions about selflessness, in my experience, most people are attempting to be selfless for an act, everything is just about making yourself seem better. To truly be selfless, however, one must understand that no one action, or combination of actions, will make you selfless. To achieve this, you need to fully commit to a life of being selfless, which can be incredibly tiring, at times. I believe that selflessness and selfishness go hand in hand, with the last not inherently being negative. To be able to serve others and your community, you must have the means to do so. Both emotionally and physically. To accomplish this, it's okay to do things for yourself and engage in activities that you enjoy and are not doing only for the reason of benefiting others. I love engaging in service, in college, I am a student leader for my school's Civil Rights Alliance. Participating in this program has been incredibly rewarding, however, it can also be intense and difficult at times. While I have dedicated a large part of my college career to engaging in acts of service and volunteering efforts, I have also realized at times that it is more beneficial for me to step back at times. This can include instances in which I find myself burnt out, which comes along easily with volunteering. At times like this, it is more beneficial for me, and others, to step back and let others engage in these volunteer roles and then step back in at a later date when you're able to contribute more. As mentioned above, I am a student leader in my school's Civil Rights Alliance. While this role has encompassed many different aspects of civil rights, we have primarily focused on helping local refugees. The instance that stands out the most for me involves the 'Tech Tent' we would host at the local library every Saturday morning, where we would teach individuals how to use computers, phones, or any other electronics they needed assistance with. While this was something that seemed incredibly simple to us college students, it was incredible to be able to assist people who had no idea how to even open google. Witnessing how much we were able to teach them within 3 hours was invaluable, and I cannot think of an experience I would trade for being able to have this interaction. Contributing to my community has been one of my favorite parts of my college career, and I cannot wait to be able to grow my skills in leadership and volunteering in a way that I can positively touch more people's lives. One day I hope to be able to have people say positive things about me and my dedication to service in a way that mirrors Michael's, though I know it will be hard to replicate the kind words written above.

Throughout the first year of my undergrad, I struggled to find my place on campus. I had a lot of friends, and people to hang out with, however, I could not find a club that sparked my interest. During winter break, I was nominated by one of my professors to partake as a student leader for my campus's volunteering program. Not only was I honored that one of my professors, who I had only known for one semester, had nominated me for this role, but I was also instantly captivated by the opportunity to launch myself into my very first leadership position. Immediately after the beginning of the spring semester, I was planning events, attending volunteer opportunities, as well as meeting other student leaders who helped guide me and shape me into a successful student leader for my chosen program. These individuals were incredible resources for me to learn from, and they were also people with which I became fast friends. Besides learning the ropes of this role from a leadership position, I also quickly fell in love with the volunteering aspect. Being able to assist individuals on a face-to-face basis was incredibly fulfilling, but more so, I incredibly enjoyed being able to do 'behind the scenes' work as well. For instance, one Saturday, I gathered a group of my friends to attend a volunteering event and we spent the entire afternoon organizing a donation center. Being able to see what exactly was being collected and all of the hard work that goes into running a donation center was incredibly interesting, and it was great to be able to hang out with my friends and meet new people at my school while also making a difference in people's lives, even if they didn't know that we were the ones assisting them. While I have described how this leadership role has been incredibly fulfilling, it is not to say that everything went smoothly for me following joining this program. It was incredibly hard to iron out scheduling issues, and it was difficult to balance my school work with volunteering work to start with. However, when I voiced these concerns with some of my mentors, and the upperclassmen within this program, they were incredibly helpful with providing tips and tricks to balance everything in a way that I could be successful both as a student and a volunteer leader. Despite any hardships I have faced, or will face, as a student leader, there is nothing that could make me regret my choice to join this program. Even though I have only been a participant in this program for one semester, I have already learned an incredible amount of knowledge that I could not learn in any classroom. Similarly, I have learned so much about leadership positions in my short semester as a student leader that as I go into my Sophomore year, I am gaining leadership positions on other fronts and in other clubs that I participate in. For instance, at the end of the spring semester, with help of other students, we founded the Pre-Law Society, of which I am the treasurer. Gaining experience in leadership roles has been incredibly invaluable during my college career, and I cannot wait to see where these various roles take me.