What makes you a Difference Maker?

To be honest, I did not expect to be nominated as a Difference Maker. Looking at all of the other people who have become Difference Makers this year and in the years before, I feel very honored to be recognized alongside so many other amazing individuals that are doing just incredible work both here and throughout the rest of Southeast Michigan. A Difference Maker is, to me, someone who is deeply interested in the well-being of our school, our local communities, and the world. A Difference Maker is willing to try new things to make these spaces better, never giving up when faced with challenges but creatively works around them. Throughout my college career, I have been able to be involved with so many programs that work to make a difference for others. I think that that's one of the best parts of college, having so many different ways to get involved and do something good for someone else. Whether it's community service work or being a part of internal restructuring, you have to consider the people that are coming after you and what you are going to leave behind. Being a part of a group or team that lets you say, "this is great, I love this, but how can we make this better" is something that will never get old to me and is something that I have tried to do in every group I have been a part of. You just have to keep pushing and not give up. Being a Difference Maker means that I can encourage others to do the same, to get your hands dirty, to be uncomfortable, to find something that you want to do and then do it. College is difficult, but it is not the be-all, end-all. There is so much more that must be done and we are just getting started.

Tell us about your leadership experience.

Two of my passions are education and the arts, and I love finding ways to make those two things intersect. Thus far, finding programs that focus on theatre and forensics (i.e. speech and debate) training and experiences for young people has been crucial to my community involvement. I have been a part of the Shakespeare Royal Oak KidsAct! program since 2006, beginning as a student and have now worked as a part of the education team for the last four years, assisting in the teaching of stage combat, Shakespeare, and dance classes. I work with many other educational programs around Southeast Michigan as a teacher or teaching assistant, such as at The Roeper School, Farmington Hills Summer Programs, Roeper Summer Day Camp, DramaKids of Oakland County, and the Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association. At UM-Dearborn, I am a part of the Honors Program, where I have been working on restructuring the mentorship program alongside two of my amazing colleagues (who just happen to be some of my best friends) over the last year. I also served as the youngest member of the executive committee for the TEDxUM-Dearborn 2019 event, working both as the head of communications and as the volunteer coordinator for the day of the event. Over the summer, I will be partnering with students from both UM-Ann Arbor and MSU's Spartan Speech team to bring a Speech and Debate team to U-M.

What is your dream career or goal?

I have always wanted to be a teacher. In fact, I was quoted in my second-grade yearbook as saying, "I just really like working with kids." A bold statement for an eight-year-old, I know, but I genuinely did like working with kids. Ever since then, I have been expanding my involvement in educational camps, extracurricular teams, and local schools, going so far as to develop my own curriculum and teach it during my Senior Year of high school. I can think of nothing greater than being able to teach literature to middle and high school students, and I am so incredibly antsy to get into a classroom that I can call my own. Down the road, I want to open my own school. I was privileged enough to go to a private school that focused on the holistic method of education, though as a long-term scholarship kid, I knew that going to that school was an additional financial burden to my low-income household. I intend to open a school that provides the level of intensive, individualized education that I benefitted from but without the high price tag. To accomplish this, the school would be non-linearly funded, meaning that it would not have to rely on state funding entirely; rather, the school would utilize creative financing methods to find ways to both benefit the school itself and the larger community that it was in. Through the TEDx conferences that I have curated, I have been able to form relationships with organizations that are already doing such work nationwide, one of which is currently developing a school just outside of Detroit. I cannot wait to see where this dream will take me, but I know that I can make it happen.

What is your most defining moment?

Being asked to read at the first One Mic event was really special to me. I was one of three or four students who were asked to read, along with two faculty members, and it was just so incredible to be able to share my poetry for the first time at UM-Dearborn. Quite a few of my friends showed up as well as my mom, and I remember just feeling joyful watching so many people that I love who had never interacted before mingling with each other in the old Alfred Berkowitz Gallery in the library. It was a really proud moment for me, and it's something that I will never forget.