Life begins with sobriety, and sobriety begins with support. I may not have been able to tell my dad that while I was growing up, but now that I am more prepared and have worked with those with substance use disorder, I can show him that I will always support him throughout his recovery. The recovery process is not linear, and after exploring my own recovery from mental health struggles, I have also realized that relapse does not mean failure. I believe that is why my father could not get out of the grip of alcoholism: because every drink while trying to get sober meant failure. His recovery is still ongoing, and will continue for the remainder of his life, but to understand that alcoholism is an illness and that he is not at fault for developing this illness, I am able to better support him during his journey of sobriety. I knew my dad was sick from a young age. I remember the words slurring, the rage, the depression. We talked on and off during my teenage years, as I was not able to fully understand why he just couldn’t stop drinking. Didn’t he want to get better for me? Have a relationship with his child? I don’t wish this feeling of helplessness and fear on anyone. When I entered college and began my social work degree, it hit me like a truck: He was sick. Addiction wrapped around his brain like a thorn bush, every tiny move to try and escape led to more pain, more of a reason to give in and continue drinking. So, I educated myself even more, I began volunteering at a peer recovery center in my town and talked with people in recovery about their experience. I gained a deeper understanding of substance use disorder and how it impacts the brain and body. Finally, I talked to my dad, I told him that despite our complicated relationship growing up, I would always love and support him through his recovery. I am grateful I had the opportunity to express these feelings to him, because fifteen-year-old Ven believed he would never get the chance. Recovery and sobriety are the most challenging thing someone with substance use disorder can face. Bishop Mozell Haymon is absolutely correct in saying life begins with sobriety, my father and I are living proof of that. My father’s strength to pursue recovery inspires me every day, and his bravery to face those demons pushes me to be the best social worker I can be.

I remember it as clear as day: I was still a child, around 10 years old, playing outside at my father's house. She was tall and beautiful; I was enamored at how gracefully she walked. I noticed some things about her that confused me, as she had facial hair and a deeper voice. My curiosity got the best of me, and I asked her the forbidden question: "Are you a boy or a girl?" She responded kindly, saying she was a girl that was born in the wrong body. In the early 2010's, there was little representation of the woman I met. My father was angry at her for telling me about her identity. He didn't think she should be teaching a mere child about her identity, so she quietly left me alone to play. The first LGBTQ+ person to have a deep impact on me and my activism was the first transgender woman I ever met, and she also gave me the words to describe how I feel today. Ever since early childhood, I have wanted to help people. Whether I was a veterinarian saving animals, or a therapist saving lives, the idea of making an impact on people excited me. I could never figure out exactly what field I wanted to go into until high school, when I was thinking about the trans woman I met years ago. That interaction gave me a new vocabulary word: transgender. A person whose gender identity does not match their sex given at birth. This vocabulary word floated around in my brain over the years, but I really began to think about it in eighth grade, when I really began to understand that something was amiss in my life. During puberty, I felt disconnected from my body and could not figure out why. When I thought of the trans woman I met as a child, I did more research on the term, where I was met with hundreds of resources for the LGBTQ community. Suddenly, the pieces of my puzzle began to fit together, and I realized this term represents how I feel about myself. It was an eye-opening, beautiful moment for me, feeling like life finally made sense. Today, I am a queer and trans educator and activist. I am a social work major with a double minor in LGBTQ+ studies and psychology. I am twenty-three now, and looking back at ten year old me I am feeling grateful. A transgender woman guided me to my identity path without even realizing the impact she would have on me. I am grateful because now I feel like my life has purpose: I want to work with the LGBTQ+ community, With a focus on transgender youth. Being a gender specialist is my calling, and educating others about the LGBTQ+ community is a passion of mine. I work with LGBTQ+ organizations on campus and in Boston, Massachusetts being a peer leader for the future generation of queer and trans youth. After completing my undergraduate degree, I will move onto a master’s program, become an LICSW, and will continue to work with LGBTQ+ youth in a community setting. In the future, I will continue to advocate for inclusive education, intersectionality, and supporting queer and trans youth throughout their lives. After all, even if I am but a faint memory tucked away in her mind, her influence has inspired me to follow my dreams of helping others.

Though my struggles do not define me, I find it incredibly important to discuss mental health regularly. The destigmatization of mental health issues such as bipolar disorder, which I struggle with, is something I work on constantly. I want to educate others that bipolar not dangerous or as scary as others make it out to be. Since I was a teenager, I struggled with managing my bipolar disorder, trichotillomania, and gender dysphoria. As I have aged, I have been able to get a grasp on my mental health issues and can now healthily manage my episodes. I will continue to live with these disorders for the rest of my life, but I am confident that I can manage them and live to educate others about these struggles. Right now, I am a rising junior who goes to Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. I study psychology with a minor in LGBTQ+ studies, intending to become a gender therapist after receiving my Master's degree. I have lived with bipolar disorder since I was in high school, but during my freshman year of college, I had a severe episode that left me in an intensive outpatient program. The change of living away from home for the first time, a rising pandemic and having to live with a toxic roommate affected my mental health and sent me spiraling into a rabbit hole of despair. After treatment, I moved home and continued college online from the safety of my room. After getting the coping skills I desperately needed, I felt as though I finally was able to tackle my mental health issues healthily and could live my life to the fullest. The main reason I want to become a gender therapist is to educate others and guide trans youth down a path that will benefit them, whether that means transitioning or not. I was diagnosed with gender dysphoria as a teenager and transitioned socially and medically to cope with it. I received gender-affirming surgery in March of 2023 and though it has only been a month since then, my life has changed for the better. I feel more comfortable and confident in my body. My parents have been supportive which I am so grateful for, as I know many youth who cannot say the same. My mental health struggles have affected them as much as me, especially since they both struggle with their mental health issues as well. My mother and I have talked about mental health often to try to better understand each other's struggles and better support each other. At the end of the day, it feels great to be in control of myself and my struggles. As a youth, I used to feel burdened by my bipolar disorder and gender dysphoria. Though I have other diagnoses as well, these two have had the greatest impact on my life. I would feel as though I was my disorder and that I did not have anything good going for my future. Growing up with bipolar was an immense struggle, but with support from my family, friends and therapist, I have been able to conquer it. As aforementioned, I will continue to live with these disorders for the rest of my life, but I am proud to be alive in the first place.

Despite society constantly reminding me I am different from my peers, I do not let that stop me from growing and succeeding as a person. I am a non-binary transmasculine person who adores educating others about the LGBTQ+ community. In a world that wants to see us disappear, I continue to work hard toward my goals and dreams of educating others about our community. I want to clear up common misconceptions about the queer and trans community and create more allies across the world. I fully believe that I can achieve these goals as long as I do not give up. I am different from my peers as a lot of them wish to just live their lives, which I respect wholeheartedly, while I want to change lives and educate the people around me about the LGBTQ+ community. We are not evil people, we are just trying to live full and happy lives. Since I was young, I knew something was off about me. I did not feel as though I fit in my body. There was a disconnect between my body and mind, so I began my transition. I saw a gender therapist and gathered the words to explain how I felt. Though he did not exactly help me come out, he gave me the language to explain to others why I was different. I was loud and proud about my transition, I felt truly happy living as a masculine person, but not everyone thought it was the right thing for me to do. There was a wide variety of opinions from family members, but I knew what was best for me. Today, I am forever grateful I did not listen to the negative comments. I am six years along in my transition and five weeks have passed since my gender-affirming surgery. Since seeing a gender therapist, I realized the path I wanted to take for my career: gender therapy. The best way I can give back to my community is by giving to them what they gave to me: the courage and words to say who I truly was. I want to guide young transgender people down the path that suits them best, whether that means transitioning or not. Every trans person has a different life path and I want to assist in finding that path and encouraging them to live as their authentic selves. I am about to go into my junior year of college, and I am continuing my education after I graduate to pursue my dreams of becoming a successful gender therapist. I believe I can change people's views of the queer and trans community by telling my story. My story is one of happiness and blossoming, where I live my life authentically despite others telling me I do not deserve to. I am different from my peers and I could not be more proud of myself for continuing my advocacy and activism even when the world makes it scary to do so.

Like a caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly, I have grown into a thriving transgender adult. As a child, I was happy, but something didn't feel right. There was a disconnect between my mind and my body. As I gained the language to explain how I felt, the puzzle pieces started clicking together. I came out when I was 15, beginning my brand new beautiful life as Ven. Ever since that day, I have blossomed into a vibrant non-binary transmasculine person who has been able to grow into a body meant to be theirs. Today, I am recovering from a successful gender-affirming surgery and celebrating three years of being legally Ven. I would not be where I am today if it weren't for the LGBTQ+ community. The never-ending support from fellow queer and trans people has been overwhelming since I came out. I am forever grateful to have such support from my friends and found family. As I explored different career paths, I realized what my dream was: to become a gender therapist. I wanted to give back to my community by helping young trans people find their path in life. As a teenager, I visited a gender therapist. However, he was a cisgender man and I didn't feel a connection with him. I believe that as a trans person, I will be able to build a connection with my clients which will allow them to feel safe and supported. In a world that is so against our well-being, queer and trans youth need and deserve a safe space. I want trans kids to feel the same way I did when I was surrounded by friends: supported and cared about. If I didn't have that, I cannot guarantee I would be here today. I am passionate about my career path because we deserve to feel loved and safe in society and I want to make that more common. I want to educate others about my story as an openly trans high schooler and how my school could have better supported me. We as people deserve to be respected no matter who we are or how we identify. Like a caterpillar, I want all trans youth to blossom into their true selves, just as I was able to. I want to guide these youth onto the path that benefits them the most, whether that means transitioning or not. The future is queer and trans, and I will be there to watch it happen.

Ever since my therapist told me that I am not my mental illness, I have had a much different view of the world. Having bipolar disorder along with a variety of other mental health struggles has been anything but easy, but experiencing them has influenced a lot of my beliefs, altered relationships for better and worse, and guided me down a career path I was destined to have: being a gender therapist. I used to have a black-and-white view of the world, nothing brought me true joy. One day, I had a session with my therapist, explaing to her how I felt like my bipolar controlled me. That was the day I realized I could be more than just my poor mental health, that things could be better, and that I could change the outcome of life for myself. I used to believe that things I did in life did not matter. I was just floating through life doing harmful things because I believed it would not matter in the end. After getting life-changing advice, I now believe I can change the world if I try hard enough. I know that despite the bad happening in the world, the good will outweigh it. My beliefs have changed as I have gotten older, just like it is supposed to go. My improving mental health influenced my beliefs as I went through high school and as I am now making my way through college. Because of this, I feel like a happier person. I have not always been the best at maintaining relationships, but I like to think I've improved at it as I've gone through my mental health journey. I used to be a very closed-off person who did not want to open up about the scary thoughts in his head. Now I am dedicated to being an educator about mental health and gender identity, presenting at professional development events at schools so I can tell the world about my story as a transgender student in the school system. I want to inform everyone I can about how being trans and bipolar affected me personally, destigmatizing mental illness in the process. My career goal has been set in stone since I was in high school: I wanted to be a gender therapist. Being able to lead trans youth down their life path would be the best thing in the world for me. When I saw a gender therapist, we did not make a lot of progress so I stopped going to his practice. I did not feel a connection as he was a cisgender man, so he could never understand my life experiences. As a trans person, I feel as though I would be able to build a connection with my patients since we both experience transness. I want to give parents advice on how to support their trans child and help their trans child find happiness in their body and mind. Being bipolar feels like being on a constant rollercoaster. My mood is far more stabilized than it was when I was younger, but I still get waves of hypomania and depression. I have accepted that I will have to live with this for the rest of my life. However, I refuse to let myself become my mental illness again. I am my own person and can be a person outside of being bipolar. My mental health has influenced a lot of things in my life, but I will never let it negatively influence my behaviors, relationships, or beliefs ever again.

I never knew what community felt like until I found the LGBTQ+ community. I was living in a world where I felt like I had no one standing beside me, no shoulder to lean on, and no one to confide in. I had a group of friends but they did not treat me like a friend all of the time. It wasn't until I came out and cut my hair short that I found friends that loved and supported me. Found family is very important to me because it saved my life. I am still friends with a lot of those people to this day, and they have watched me grow and blossom throughout my social and medical transition. Being an out queer and transgender person can be stressful and scary in the world we live in today. With constant bills targeting our lives and happiness, sometimes I just want to crawl back into the closet. But the pros outweigh the cons, and I truly love being myself. Socially and medically transitioning was the best thing I ever decided to do, with my mental health struggles becoming a lot easier to cope with knowing I look and feel like a man. As a child, I saw a gender therapist to help guide me through my transition, but I didn't feel like we were making much progress so I left his practice. Now, as a 21-year-old college student, I have made it my number one goal in life to become a gender therapist and guide youth down the path they are meant to go. I want to help trans youth navigate a world that can be against them more often than not, and assist them in their gender journey. I have worked hard toward my degree while also volunteering for different queer organizations since high school. It is my dream to change people's lives for the better, and I have felt that way since the moment I found the LGBTQ+ community.

Starting hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has allowed me to grow and change into a brand new person over the past year. I began taking testosterone in August of 2021, and just a few months ago celebrated my first anniversary of becoming the person I was meant to be. I have been thriving more than ever while being on HRT, both physically and mentally changing as a transmasculine person. It has been a beautiful experience growing into the body that was meant to be mine, and I am ecstatic to share this experience with the world around me as well. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, I had a lot of time to think about myself as a person. I have been out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community since I was a freshman in high school, but never had time to truly figure out what I wanted for the future of my body and mind. After a few months of exploring my gender identity, I concluded that I wanted to begin my medical transition of becoming more masculine. It took about another year before I was able to pursue HRT, and when I did it felt as though I was finally settling into my body and mind. Aspects of my personality have changed drastically: I am a lot more open about my needs and have become very confident about my viewpoints. Beginning HRT has also inspired me to work harder toward my degree so I can pursue my dream career: gender therapy. Despite these changes, I am still the same bubbly person I was before coming out as transmasculine. I care greatly about those around me and want to change the world just as much as I did prior to starting HRT. Physically, I look like a new person as well, with the effects of hormones beautifully changing my body. It has been a joyous experience blossoming into the man I was meant to be. Over the past year, I have learned what it means to be comfortable and content with my body. I still plan on pursuing gender-affirming surgeries as well since that is part of my gender path, but something as simple as hormone replacement therapy has changed my outlook on life and made me realize that comfortability is reachable. I still have a ways to go before I reach my final destination, however, I know that the outcome will be beautiful and welcoming, just like the person I was meant to be.

As someone who believes that life is constantly changins, I would have to say the song that has the most meaningful message to me is the song "Life" by RM. He talks of loneliness, however it is not physical loneliness, but mental. I resonate with that a lot as someone who struggles with mental health, it can be very lonely and isolating to have mental health problems. RM also disucsses death in this song, singing "life is more beautiful knowing that we've taken a loan on death", meaning that we appreciate everything in life more knowing that we are all bound to die one day. I have definitely shown more appreciation toward my life because of these lyrics, I want to cherish the life I have while I still have it. You never know what life can throw at you, which makes it a bit scary, but still beautiful. In the pre-chorus, RM asks an important question: "Were we born to live? Were we born to die?" I look at these lyrics in a glass half empty half full way, whereas some may believe in a positive way where we were born to live and some may view it in a negative way where we were simply born to die one day. It all depends on the way you look at it. This song holds a special place in my heart, opening my eyes to what life really is like and the different ways I could choose to view and live my life.

Whether I am in school or not, I am always learning new things in my life. Being an LGBTQ+ educator, I am always learning new things from the people I interact with and even the people I educate. I hear new perspectives and viewpoints that I hadn't thought of before, and it is something I cherish very much. Learning is important to me because it widens my perspective on life, allows me to have more meaningful conversations, and allows me to better myself as an educator. I am ecstatic knowing I will be a learner for the rest of my life. In my free time, I enjoy putting together professional development for faculty at schools about LGBTQ+ topics that will allow queer and transgender students to thrive in their environments. Since I am constantly doing research, I am always learning new things about my community. For the past year or so, I have taken great pride in being able to spread knowledge to others. I work with two different LGBTQ+ organizations: the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ Youth and Queer Youth Assemble. In these organizations, I am always learning from my peers on how to better my professional development and how to be a better educator overall. Listening to different perspectives on how I organize my slides, what information to add or take out, what is relevant to my specific topic, is all eye-opening. My goal in life is to educate people about LGBTQ+ youth so we can live safer and happier lives, but I cannot do that without being a learner myself. Since focusing on education and going to school, I have had a lot of meaningful conversations about politics, my future, and LGBTQ+ topics. I am a psychology major and LGBTQ+ studies minor at Bridgewater State University, which is a fairly accepting school. I am currently a sophomore, so I have had time to make friends and have meaningful conversations with them about a wide variety of topics. Most of my friends and peers I associate with are in the LGBTQ+ community, so we talk about the current political climate surrounding transgender youth and ways to better our lives in such a dangerous time. I am constantly learning new things in school, both in and out of the classroom. I enjoy having discussions with professors on how to improve my work and about my projects outside of school. I feel as though even after I graduate and get my Master's degree, I will continue to learn from the lessons I was taught in school, and that is really meaningful to me. When I was in early high school, I believe I was a pretty close-minded person. After I came out as non-binary, I think my perspective on life really started to broaden. I began getting more involved in my community and working with my high school's Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) which was a safe space for LGBTQ+ students. Being surrounded by a wide range of different people opened my eyes to a new world of education and learning. I came to realize that people being different was beautiful, and that all of our experiences in life were different and therefore able to be learned from. Overall, being a life long learner is going to benefit me greatly as an educator, and I greatly look forward to the different perspectives and stories I will come to hear throughout my life.

Being introduced to ABA therapy was unexpected but life changing. I was searching around for jobs as a psychology major and came across Proven Behavior Solutions, a provider of ABA therapy for children in Massachusetts on the South Shore. I decided to apply and see what kind of experience it would be, as I had worked with autistic adults at my last job. Even though I have only been there for about three months, this job has had a great impact on me. The child I work with is absolutely amazing and watching him grow and succeed has been an incredible process. I have never enjoyed a job as much as I enjoy this one. This scholarship will allow me to continue working the hours I work while also being able to pursue my psychology degree in school. Juggling being a student full time and working is not very easy, but working at a job I love makes it all worth it. I was introduced to ABA therapy through my career at Proven Behavior Solutions, where I found them while job searching for something in the psychology field. My previous job included me working with adults with developmental disabilities, so the only difference with my new job was that I would be working with children. I was excited to work in a similar field as I had really enjoyed my time at my previous job, but I had to go back to school and find something part time. Proven exceeded my expectations as a place to work, and I am ecstatic to be able to work here while going to school. I have only been working with my client for about a month, but working with him has opened my eyes to how amazing this field is. He is an absolute pleasure to work with, and we have so much fun working on our different programs! Everything is like a game, we are able to find joy in anything we do. We were able to build rapport quite quickly, so I feel a strong connection with him. We play with toy animals, pretend to be veterinarians, all while working on our programs during both break time and play time. I look forward to going to work, which is not something I have always been able to experience. The ABA field is a blast to be apart of, I am forever grateful for being given the opportunity to be apart of it. As a trans person in the work force, I have not always been accepted. However, at Proven, I am shown nothing but respect and support with my gender identity. It is so affirming to be gendered correctly during my time with my client and not having to worry about discrimination. I plan on staying with this job throughout college and furthering my career in it as well. My coworkers and BCBA have inspired me to pursue getting my RBT over winter break, and I plan on picking up more hours at the centers during my winter and summer break as well. Applied behavioral analysis was not something I expected to get involved in, but it has changed my outlook on life and has inspired me to work harder on pursuing my career.

Growing up with undiagnosed bipolar disorder was anything but easy. A mood disorder can alter the way you think and act constantly with little to no warning, and I suffered the consequences from it. However, after getting treatment for it, I felt like a whole new person. I finally had healthy relationships with my friends and family, and felt like I was on a steady track to succeed in life. Living with bipolar disorder has shaped my relationships from unhealthy to healthy, helped me realized my career goal is to become a gender therapist to help struggling trans youth find their path in life, and has changed my understanding of life as a whole in the sense that I do not have to be alone in my struggles. It is hard to hold stable relationships when your mood can change at the drop of a pin. My mother and I would fight over the smallest things, neither of us understanding why my emotions were supercharged during out altercations. One minute I would be crushing multiple hours of school work in thirty minutes, then I wouldn't be able to complete my work for days. After my diagnosis and beginning treatment with medication, I felt as though I could begin to live a more comfortable, stable life. I am now able to open up about my difficult moments before they become detrimental, and can healthily communicate with my friends and family when I am struggling rather than shutting down and isolating. Treatment has definitely saved my life and my relationships. Before starting treatment for bipolar, I wouldn't say I had any stable goals. I jumped back and forth between what I wanted to do with my life, and some days I had no goals or aspirations to look forward to. It wasn't until my junior year of high school - about a year before I began taking the right medication while being six months into treatment - that something finally clicked. My English teacher at the time mentioned to me, "You would make a great therapist." That was when I realized what I wanted to do: to become a gender therapist and give resources and help to the LGBTQ+ community. Now, after a few years of my own therapy and medication, I am on track to graduating with my Master's to achieve my goal. It feels really good to have something to look forward to in life, especially something that brings me immense joy. The world around us is constantly changing and can be pretty confusing. One thing is for certain though: I am not alone in feeling the way that I feel, and I am not alone in my mental health struggles. For a long time, I didn't know what was wrong with me and I felt very isolated because of it. How can I explain why I blow up over small inconveniences? It all felt so childish before I understood it was due to bipolar disorder. I do struggle with other mental health issues, but having bipolar shaped who I am the most. Knowing I am not alone in my struggles and that I have support systems, healthy relationships, and treatment has changed my life for the better, and I am going to continue to make change in the world as well.

Ever since I was young, my life goal was to help others. First, I wanted to be a veterinarian and help animals. Then, as I got older, I wanted to be a gender therapist and help the transgender community. A community that has given so much to me as a trans person, I wanted to do everything I could to give back to them. I have always been a generous and helpful person, and I believe that is the quality in myself that I take the most pride in. This characteristic will take me very far in life, and help me achieve my dream career and help my relationships flourish as I go through the journey that is life. We all have dreams as children, mine just so happened to be wanting to help animals. I have always been a huge animal lover, and I have always had cats in my life. I would play vet instead of house as a child, it was my favorite activity. In my community, I was nice to everyone I encountered no matter who they were. I was definitely a compliment spreader, I always loved giving out compliments to those around me. As I grew older, my dreams changed. I came out as non-binary transmasculine and began associating with the LGBTQ+ community. I joined my school's Gender Sexuality Alliance to help make LGBTQ+ students comfortable in school, and then I joined the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ Youth to further that goal. No matter animal or human, my heart has always led me to helping others. Now, as a sophomore in college I am able to further my best quality by pursuing my education to one day become a gender therapist: my ultimate goal in life. I believe this career will allow me to exemplify my most valued characteristic as it will allow me to give back to the community that has shown me nothing but love, respect, and acceptance. I fully believe my life journey has led to this moment and that my best quality of helping others has brought me here. Generosity is something I take great pride in, and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Sometimes I think about how I was as a child, and think about how proud they would be of me for continuing my kindness and finding new ways to help others. Helping others is my most valued characteristic that I have, and I will never stop finding ways to do just that.

With a rise in anti-trans bills and hate crimes, the chance I want to see in the community, country and world is more acceptance and love shown towards the LGBTQ+ community, specifically the transgender and gender-nonconforming community. I live my life as a transgender non-binary person, and it isn't always easy. I struggle with gender dysphoria and fear that my rights are going to be taken away from me at the drop of a hat. A few years ago, I decided I could not just sit back and watch all of this hate happen, so I make a difference by working with trans folks struggling with homelessness and volunteering with the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ Youth to make the world a better place. Although my life is not the easiest, I surely do appreciate being able to have a roof over my head and food on my table. A lot of trans youth and young adults do not have that opportunity. That is why I work in a house that provides trans folks housing, food, and supplies to live their best lives. It allows them to live independently while having some supervision and support if they need it. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience, and prepares me for my future career of being a gender therapist. I love the folks I work with, and wouldn't trade this opportunity for the world. Additionally, I volunteer my time with the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ Youth to create a safe space for queer and trans youth in school. When I was a high schooler, I watched GSA posters get ripped down and heard slurs echo the hallways, and I want to make a change about the discrimination LGBTQ+ students face by not only students, but teachers as well. The work we do focuses on gender neutral restrooms for students who need them, inclusive sex education that talks about gender identity and same sex relationships, and a lot more diverse topics. I have been apart of the Commission for about four years, taking a two year break between 2019-2020 due to the global pandemic. My mindset as of recent has been "if no one else is going to do something about it, I guess I am just going to have to." Again, with all of the hate crimes occurring against transgender folks, specifically transgender women, something obviously needs to change in the world. I have made it my duty to work with LGBTQ+ organizations to make the world a better place, starting in my community and working my way up to the country and the rest of the world.

As someone who lives with bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, trichotillomania gender dysphoria, and a wide variety of other mental health struggles, life hasn't always been so kind to me. Living specifically with bipolar has shaped the person I am today, and has shaped my aspirations in life. After I graduate college, I want to become a gender therapist. I am majoring in psychology and minoring in LGBTQ+ studies so I can help youth who struggle with similar things I struggle with, and hopefully provide them a reason to have a better outlook on life. My mental health has shaped the way I interact in my relationships with friends and family, and has influenced my belief that mental health shouldn't fully define a person. After my diagnosis with bipolar five years ago, I felt like I didn't even know who I was. This disorder can be very debilitating and hard to handle if not treated properly. A lot of my relationships at the time were unhealthy, and it wasn't getting any better. However, when I started treatment, things slowly but surely began to change. I began focusing on how I could better my relationships and myself by using coping skills and other techniques given to me by my therapist. I stopped talking to people who did not have any positive impact on my life and surrounded myself with loving and supportive friends. Around the time I was diagnosed with bipolar, I also came out as non-binary, so I was blossoming as a new person as well. Five years later, at age twenty, I would say I have a very supportive group of people in my life, including my family and a loving partner. The most important belief I have developed because of my mental health was to not let my illness define me. Before treatment and after my diagnosis, I felt like all I was was a person who existed with a mood disorder. It took a lot of tough conversations with my therapist and support system to understand that I was more than my mental illness. A very special friend of mine once told me: "Your mental health may have its talons jabbed into you, but it does not control who you are." This quote has stuck with me for years, and I try to spread this to people who once felt the same way I did as a teenager. I am someone who has relationships, hobbies, and a life outside of my bad days, and this information helps me get through those bad days as well. My career seems far ahead, but in reality time flies and I will be achieving my goals sooner than later I didn't always want to be a psychologist, but one day my junior year English teacher mentioned to me "You would make a great art therapist!" and that is when it clicked. Sure, art therapy is not exactly what I am going for, but I'm sure I am going to incorporate it into my practice one day. After cycling through different mental health professionals for a while, I decided I wanted to do what they did and help others, with my goal specifically being in the gender field. Right now I work with transgender folks who are struggling with homelessness and it has been such an eye-opening and rewarding experience being able to help them. Graduation is about two-three years away for me, so being able to get experience now has been very helpful, and living with gender dysphoria allows me to connect with the clients better as well. This field is going to be very rewarding, I just know it. Just because I am diagnosed and in treatment does not mean I don't still have bad days. Truthfully, things have been really hard as of late, as the new environment that is my college campus has been altering my mood a lot. However, I have a lot to look forward to in life, and that keeps me going. I have a lot of supportive friends and family and my wonderful partner who is by my side for the good and the bad, I have my beliefs that help me get through the tough days, and I have my career aspirations that are going to help me blossom into a beautiful gender therapist who helps people struggling with things that are similar to my struggles. Mental illness may exist within me, but it is not all of me, and that is truly what matters.

I have struggled with bipolar disorder since the age of fifteen. It is a disorder you never adjust to. The last six years have been an emotional rollercoaster, but over time I have learned how to manage my bipolar in healthy ways. Mental health is important to function in life, and to live happily and freely, to not be bound by the chains that is mental illness. While not curable, my bipolar was treatable, and I continue to treat it to this day and will do so for the rest of my life. I maintain my mental wellness by taking my medication daily, using coping skills taught by my therapist, and by trying to point out the positives in any and every situation I encounter in my day to day life. While medication may not work for everyone, it is something that has changed my life for the better. I am on multiple medications and I am proud of it, as it has shaped my life into something better than I could have imagined. Taking my medication every day allows me to function in society and with my friends, family, and partner in a healthy way. Before being on the right medication, my mood was very unstable and I struggled to keep my emotions under control. Now that I am on the medication that works best for me, I feel like a new person and like I can appropriately interact with the people I love. Meeting with a therapist is the second best thing I have ever done besides going on medication. I have been seeing my therapist since I was about ten years old, but I was not diagnosed with bipolar until I was fifteen. Over time, my therapist helped me learn various coping skills to handle my bad moments with. Living with bipolar means manic and depressive moments will pop up every once in a while, and while I may not be able to stop them, I can learn to tolerate and cope with them and the aftermath. Coping skills vary from person to person, as one thing may work for someone but not be beneficial for another, so what works for me may not be helpful to someone else living with bipolar. It is important to figure out what works for you, and to enhance your knowledge of coping skills with a therapist or licensed mental health professional. Something else that I have found particularly helpful in learning to live with bipolar is to point out the positives in every situation I deal with. I often have moments where I feel like the world is ending, where nothing ever goes right and that I just can't seem to win in life. In these moments, I try and point out at least one positive to counter all of the negatives I am feeling in that moment. For example, something as simple as my favorite restaurant being closed can trigger my bipolar. A positive I can identify is that I can order myself comfort food to make up for my favorite place being closed. Even though it may not feel like it in the moment, there is a positive in almost every bad situation, whether you can immediately point it out or have to dig around for an answer. Mental health is something I have struggled with for a long time, and sometimes it feels like it hasn't gotten easier. That is why I continue to enhance my knowledge of my disorder, take my medication, and practice healthy coping skills to counter the bad moments.

The world we live in is constantly changing, but unfortunately is it not always changing for the better. With the recent attack on LGBTQ+ youth in schools and in the medical world, sometimes I almost lose hope that the world will ever change for the better. Which is why I think to myself, "Okay, well, if the world isn't changing for the better right now, I guess I will just have to change it for the better." One specific way I want to see the world change is having a safer environment everywhere for transgender youth because as a fellow transgender youth, we as people deserve it. Sometimes it feels like the whole world is against LGBTQ+ youth. Politicians want to take away our medical care, our rights in school, our right to exist as happy human beings, all because they don't agree with the way we present ourselves and live our lives. It is completely unfair to us as fellow human beings that we should have our rights compromised like that. After graduating college, my goal is to become a gender therapist so I can change the lives of the trans youth out there and allow them to have a safe space where they are loved and accepted for who they are. The positive change for trans youth isn't coming fast enough, so I want to take it into my own hands and change the world myself. I feel grateful everyday that I live in a state where my rights as a transgender person are not as at risk compared to conservative states. However, that doesn't make it any easier to watch these youth in conservative states suffer. These politicians are attacking children not for their safety, but for power over them. It is to control these children and make their lives miserable just because they are seen as different compared to cisgender children. This semester, I am taking a political science class and am excited to read and debate cases about LGBTQ+ youth and why our rights matter too. My debate would be simple though: that transgender youth deserve rights just because we are human too. It is as simple as that. It can be discouraging living in the United States as an LGBTQ+ youth right now. The whole country is arguing on whether or not we as people deserve medical care or LGBTQ+ groups at schools, or if it's okay to erase our identities in the classroom. None of these things are okay, and the world needs to change for the better on this topic sooner rather than later. That is why after college, I am going to change the world to make it a more welcoming and accepting place for these youth, simply because they deserve to be safe and happy in the United States. I know it will take a while for me to be able to make this change, but I am motivated by the hatred of others to be able to get it done.

Eli was nothing but a bright light in the eyes of everyone around him. We were fourteen when he passed away, and he was the first person in my life that I lost to a tragic accident. When you're fourteen, handling loss is strange. It was completely different compared to when family members passed away when I was older. Eli's death slapped me across the face in terms of realizing that life really is too short sometimes. It matured me for my age, making me want to focus on what as most important to me: helping others. At such a young age, there is only so much you can do to be of help to other people. I wanted to take it a step further and focus on my community: the LGBTQ+ community. I got involved in my GSA and began attending the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ+ youth. After graduating college, I want to pursue a career in gender therapy and give back to my transgender and gender non-conforming community. Eli was not apart of this community, but he was a huge support when my friends and I came out as LGBTQ+ one by one. He respected our identities and pronouns and made a strong effort to make us feel included and accepted. After his passing, I truly realized how important it is to have allies in my life. My goal is to be an ally for parents of LGBTQ+ youth, and an ally to my community until the day I join Eli up in heaven. When you're fourteen, you have your whole life ahead of you. Eli never got to see that. He missed out on watching our friend group grow up and grow apart, he missed out on graduating high school and college, he missed out on watching me take gender affirming hormones for the first time. I miss my best friend a lot, but I know for a fact that not only am I making him proud by fighting for LGBTQ+ rights and am going to give back to my community by becoming a gender therapist, but I am making myself proud by following in his footsteps of being a good person. I only hope that one day, I can be as bright of a star as Eli is.