Hi. My name is Molly. I am the youngest in my grade but the oldest in my family of siblings. The first of this kid crew to go to college. At a newly eleven-years-old, in the beginning of my 6th grade year of middle school - quietly timid, abundantly awkward, and absolutely unaware - I found myself in a situation where I was groomed and later inappropriately touched by a teacher that I adored. Even to this day, it is hard to make sense of it all. That secret, now dubbed as “the terrible awful” by my family, was carried within for five, full months before I could hold it no longer. In that time, my anxiety skyrocketed while my mood plummeted. After I opened up to a visiting cousin, life changed. Within 24 hours, I was sitting with school administration, the counseling team, the local victim’s services advocate and my parents sharing about that terrible awful and creating a safety plan for school. My testimony led to four more outcries across all three grades of my school... all little girls like me carrying their own “terrible awful” too heavy for their spirits to hold. Together, we put that secret down and built a foundation of support that would carry us through high school. Maya Angelou once wrote, “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” My difficult experience grew this spark of resiliency inside that guides my every day. I am forever changed but completely not reduced. I spent the rest of my middle school and high school years growing my voice, learning how to protect my body with self-defense, strengthening my self-love and casting a wide safety net for others in crisis. I focused my community service projects - a pillar of IB world school programming- on organizations that support the needs of women and children of sexual assault/abuse such as The Settlement Club, Hope Austin and the SAFE Alliance. Through my various school organizations, I used the platform to bring awareness on advocacy efforts in our community focused on mental health support and support for victims of assault. My work supporting families of domestic violence strengthened my own desires to be an advocate for the wellness of others. This year, I am pursuing an undergraduate degree in criminal justice and forensic psychology in the hope to grow a career collaborating with law enforcement to increase felt community safety and better research how mental health crisis is at the origin of so many violent crimes. With opportunities to grow my knowledge in school, I know that I can further create resources (such as the increased vetting of all personnel that work with children, ease of access for safe outcries and succinct protocols for supporting children of sexual assault) that will better support my community at large and engage solutions to build better mental healthcare for all. This scholarship would be such an incredible blessing for my educational pursuits and future career goals. In time, I would love to create scholarship fund that specifically offers support for victims of sexual assault as they continue their journey to healing. Their brave voices have so much to offer our community and I would love to grow an opportunity for them to share their voice, passion and education to others.