My experiences with the LGBTQ+ community started during childhood due to having lesbian parents. The values of kindness and community were instilled in me at a young age, and have stuck with me. My experiences being PART of the LGBTQ+ community didn't fully begin until I came out during my freshman year of high school. Being a queer guy who was also the new kid, high school started out rough for me. I lost my best friend because he refused to accept me for who I am. Afterwards, I had nowhere to sit at lunch, so I found solace in the LGBTQ+ community and started attending Gay Straight Alliance meetings during lunch. Ever since then, I have been deeply involved with the community in and out of my school life. With the GSA, I helped plan and coordinate events that served as safe spaces for LGBT individuals, including a barbeque potluck at the town park and a queer movie night in the school theater. I have also been a confidant for my classmates who need advice from another queer person. An example of this is when a former classmate reached out to me via Instagram at the beginning of the pandemic. We had taken Spanish together the year prior and she said that my coming out had inspired her. She asked for advice on how to come out and how to deal with unsupportive friends/family. I was there to support her through her coming out journey, just like I wished someone would have done for me. As for my career goals, I aspire to work in the field of Public Relations. Having a job in Public Relations would allow me to utilize my verbal and written communication skills in the workplace. This appeals to me because I have always had a deep love for communication of all forms. I feel most at home when I’m giving a speech or synthesizing an argument for the Speech and Debate Team, presenting a multimedia project in front of a class, telling a story, writing a research paper, or even conveying ideas and feelings through artistic mediums such as music or photography. A career in Public Relations would allow me to use my voice in several of these ways and make a career out of it. Going into this field could further my involvement with the LGBTQ+ community because I could potentially become a PR specialist for an LGBTQ+ nonprofit or organization.

My favorite book is "I Hope You Get This Message" by Farah Naz Rishi. This science fiction novel tells a story of loss and love in an apocalyptic setting. There are three main reasons that I enjoyed this book so greatly: it has quality storytelling, excellent queer representation, and the best ending that I have read. I read this book over the course of two days because the way that the story was told kept me on the edge of my seat. It is told from a split perspective, following three teens: Jesse, Cate, and Adeem. We follow each protagonist's journey after Earth receives a transmission from another planet called Alma saying that humanity has seven days left before extermination. They all start out in different places with different stories, but as the plot goes on, their stories start to overlap, until we find out they were intertwined all along. Not only was the storytelling executed amazingly, but the queer representation was also outstanding. As a gay man, I was pleasantly surprised with how well done the representation was. It is not often that I can find an interesting book with representation that does not have all the main character's problems stem from queerness, or have just one gay background character who serves no purpose in the plot. In the book, Jesse is gay. His main struggle is poverty, but it does not overshadow his queerness. In addition, Adeem's sister is lesbian. Lastly, the thing that played the biggest part in this book being my favorite ever is the ending. It is not exactly a shocking ending, but it is the perfect close to the story. Simply put, everyone dies. Right after everyone finds a reason to live, they perish. It is a beautifully bittersweet ending for a bittersweet book.