As someone who group up in Massachusetts, right outside of the second biggest city in New England, ten years ago I would have never saw myself calling the state of South Dakota home. Travel has been an important to me in numerous ways, but most importantly because it helped discover my own values. I have had the opportunity to travel out of the country on school study abroad trips, as well as visit many of the 50 states; however, the biggest impact travel has had on me was a road trip leading me to decide where to go to college. This one simple trip has helped me to understand how travel can be a transformative experience for individuals.   Travel is a transformative experience because it allows an individual to walk in the shoes of how someone else is living. An individual can read or listen all they want about a way of life, culture or perspectives, but they will not understand it until they visit it. Being able to understand new cultures, perspectives, and environments through travel enables individuals to discover things about themselves that they did not now. Heading into my senior year I have school; my family took a road trip through the Midwest. We ventured through almost the entirety of the Midwest (leaving out North Dakota) and I was amazed by the difference of cultures, perspectives, and environments just with in the United States. Throughout this trip, I learned the people were different as we met so many welcoming and interesting folks. The landscape was nothing like Massachusetts, the perspectives on politics, and even many of the values were vastly different than what I was used to. On this trip, I fell in love with the state of South Dakota and began to seriously consider going to college there. I researched the University of South Dakota and appreciated the idea of living in a small town where the college was the whole town. The simplest road trip as a means of challenging helped me to grow into the person I am today. I have grown to be independent moving so far away from home, learning to navigate many new cities. I have also come to understand the values that are truly important to me. I always thought I was fast-paced city living girl who might end up in the Big Apple one day but visiting and living in South Dakota has helped me realize I like the small-town slow living. After spending the last three years in South Dakota, I appreciate the simple traditions that are important to so many towns, the love of county fairs, the lack of trees, and having to drive a ridiculously long way to get to a chain store.

In The Lorax, Dr. Seuss once said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not”. As Dr. Seuss alludes to, I believe in order for real change to happen, the world needs passionate people, and more importantly passionate volunteers. Growing up in Massachusetts, many of Dr. Seuss’ books, and The Lorax especially, have had a large influence on my life. I’m extremely passionate about the inclusion of people with disabilities. I come from a family of teachers and helping others has always been important to me. My mother set a strong example, especially within her classroom, on the importance of providing every student, regardless of their ability with the opportunity to learn. I watched her care for her students and make an impact on their lives. In middle school, I started volunteering at the Special Olympics Massachusetts State Basketball Tournament. The tournament quickly became one of my favorite weekends and because of this, I’ve volunteered at the games whenever possible. I loved watching all of the athletes compete and see their hard work pay off. Because of my love for watching this event, I knew I wanted to further my involvement with Special Olympics. In high school, I joined Best Buddies and the Unified Track team. I continued to love every minute of it. My junior and senior year of high school, I served as a member of the Special Olympics Massachusetts State Youth Activation Council (YAC) and as a Special Olympics North America U.S. Youth Ambassador. As a YAC member, I volunteered my time helping to plan a Youth Activation Summit for students with and without disabilities across Massachusetts, volunteered at the state summer games, participated in the polar plunge, and served as a greeter at the JFK Profiles of Courage event. As a Youth Ambassador, I had the opportunity to volunteer my time even more, and to become involved with Special Olympics at an even greater level. I have volunteered at numerous events speaking on behalf of Special Olympics, attended conference calls to share my input, and write articles to promote Special Olympics. Now, as a rising senior in college, almost eight years later, I’m still volunteering my time with Special Olympics. I’m a member of the Special Olympics National Education Leaders, help with the U.S. Youth Ambassador Alumni newsletter, and serve as the Marketing Chair for the Special Olympics College Club at my school. I had no idea that volunteering at one event would have such a big impact on who I am and my future goals. My involvement and volunteering with Special Olympics has grown so strong, it has truly become an activity where I don’t feel like I am volunteering anymore. I have found my passion in giving speeches, volunteering my time, and advocating for inclusion. While I was involved with Special Olympics, I also worked part-time at a small business. I enjoyed working at this business and learning about what goes into owning one. I plan on continuing my work helping others by volunteering with Special Olympics and hopefully coaching Special Olympics teams as I get older. In addition, it is my goal to own my own business, like the one I worked at, so I can employ people with disabilities. Through Special Olympics, I met my friend Dan. Dan wants to work so badly but has had difficulty finding a job because of his disability. In the future, I want to ensure everyone, regardless of their ability, has a place to work and feel appreciated for their contributions by owning my own business.

Every morning in high school, I walked into school and was greeted by my name being shouted across the cafeteria. Every morning I started my day with not only my best friend, but the person who has changed my life the most. Meet Dan. Dan is 6’8” tall and a student in my school’s life skills classroom. Dan is severely autistic, but despite his differences, participates in student council and the boy’s track team. Dan and I share a unique friendship filled with many inside jokes, memories, and experiences. There is nothing in the world that Dan wants more than to feel included, but oftentimes, he walks into the lunchroom and no one wants to sit with him. A few years ago, at our school’s spree day, he tried so hard to bounce in the bouncy house with his classmates but they would not allow him. After witnessing this, all I have ever wanted is for Dan to feel accepted. Because of Dan, I found my biggest passion in life: advocating for the inclusion of people with disabilities. Dan is extremely hard working; however because of his disability, it is hard for him to find a job. Therefore, I decided to pursue a business degree because it is my goal to one day own my own small business that employs people with and without disabilities. I never want anyone to go through what Dan has gone through. Dan is extremely capable of working, but everyone sees his disability first, so it is hard for him to find a job. In high school and the beginning of college, I worked at a small business in Auburn, MA, and found that I love the environment of a small business. I saw every single aspect that goes into running one and realized it is something I want to do when I am older. The business that I worked at sold snacks, nuts, chocolates, and dried fruits wholesale, while also having a retail store on the side. I worked in both production and the retail store and loved it. I was able to develop strong relationships with the owners of the company, and because of this it is my goal to buy the business when they sell it, and employ people with and without disabilities. After working there for four years, I know it is possible to employ people of all abilities. In order to buy the business, I am pursuing a degree in Business Administration. I hope to make a positive impact on my community by giving people with disabilities the opportunity to work and meaningfully contribute to society. People with disabilities have so many unique perspectives to offer towards a business, and I want to be able to take these perspectives into consideration.

Imagine a world where the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities is the norm. It is my goal to one day live in a community where inclusion is second nature. In order to affect positive change for my community, I act locally through Special Olympics. My first local experience with Special Olympics started when I was in the seventh grade. I volunteered at the state basketball tournament that was being held in my town. I quickly fell in love with the organization and wanted to become involved in any way possible. I continued to volunteer at the basketball tournament for many years to come, as well as the Summer Games and JFK Profiles in Courage Event. Through these volunteer opportunities, I realized I can make a difference in my community by impacting just one athlete's life, I began to understand that in order to affect positive change, I don't need to do something drastic, I just need to be a FRIEND to EVERYONE I meet. Rather than seeing Special Olympics as a volunteer opportunity, I saw it a way to make new friends in my community. I met one person through the organization that has had a huge impact on my life; her name is Sydney. Together, we have been able to use our abilities and experiences to spread the message of inclusion all while hanging out and a having good time together. We received the opportunity to travel to Sand Diego, New York City, Washington, DC and the Kennedy Compound together. These experiences brought us closer than I could have ever imagined and allowed us to use our voices to affect positive change in our community and the country as a whole. Special Olympics is a national organization; however, by making strong friendships it can have a impact locally.

My most impactful service experiences have come from my work with Special Olympics (SO). In middle school, I started volunteering at the MA SO State Basketball Weekend Tournament. The tournament quickly became one of my favorite weekends and because of this I have volunteered at the games ever since. I loved watching all the athletes compete and see their hard work pay off. Due to my love of volunteering at this event, I knew I wanted to become more involved with SO. I became a member of the MA Youth Activation Council and SO U.S. Youth Ambassador. As a YAC member, I've had the opportunity to attend monthly meetings, plan a youth summit, volunteer at the State Summer Games, volunteer as a greeter at the JFK Profiles of Courage event and more. Through being a Youth Ambassador, I'v been given even more volunteer opportunities, as well as the opportunity to become involved with SO at an even greater level. I've had the opportunity to voluntarily speak at an abundance of events, attend conference calls and write articles/ blogs to promote SO. As my involvement and volunteering with SO has grown so strong, it has truly become an activity where I don’t feel like I'm volunteering anymore. On top of volunteering, I've been able to join multiple Unified Sports teams, Best Buddies and participate in the polar plunge. SO has become a big part of my life, I've found a passion in giving speeches and advocating for living in a Unified Generation. After seeing the way some of my best friends with intellectual disabilities have been treated, I never want them feel excluded again. Being apart of the SO mission and living in a world where people with and without intellectual disabilities can thrive together has become so important to me!

Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver once stated, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in my attempt”. My biggest passion in life is advocating for the inclusion of people with disabilities through Special Olympics. In order to support equality and diversity, I am using my experiences to encourage others to better include people with disabilities in school and in the workplace. I feel it is important for me to use my voice to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. In high school, I served as a Special Olympics U.S. Youth Ambassador where I traveled around the country speaking and sharing my stories about the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools Program (UCS). My goal was to encourage other students to bring UCS to their school, and to be more inclusive of students in their schools Special Education Classroom. Currently, I serve on the Special Olympics National Education Leaders Network. I work closely with educators from across the country to solve problems related to inclusion in schools. We recently met to discuss how to we can improve the inclusion of people with disabilities in city schools through the Big City Schools initiative, placing focus on Boston and Chicago. I am currently pursuing my degree in Business Administration, as it is my goal to own a business and employ people with and without disabilities. I want to provide a safe place in my community for people with disabilities to work. I believe people with disabilities have so much to offer to the world and it is important for other people to understand that. In reality, the word disability just means different ability. Everybody has certain aspects of them that makes them unique, so rather than discriminating them, we need to learn to meaningful include everyone.

Every morning for the last three years I have walked into school and have been greeted by my name being shouted across the cafeteria. Every morning I’ve started my day with not only my best friend, but the person who has changed my life the most. Meet Dan. Dan is 6’8” tall and a student in my school’s life skills classroom. Dan is severely autistic, but despite his differences, participates in student council and the boys' track team. Dan and I share a unique friendship filled with many inside jokes, memories, and experiences. There is nothing in the world that Dan wants more than to feel included, but oftentimes, he walks into the lunchroom, and no one wants to sit with him. After witnessing this, all I have ever wanted is for Dan to feel accepted. Because of Dan, I found my biggest passion in life, volunteering with Special Olympics (SO). My most impactful community service experiences have come from my work with Special Olympics. In middle school, I started volunteering at the MA SO State Basketball Weekend Tournament. The tournament quickly became one of my favorite weekends and because of this I have volunteered at the games ever since. I loved watching all the athletes compete and see their hard work pay off. Due to my love of volunteering at this event, I knew I wanted to become more involved with SO and volunteer at a higher level. I became a member of the MA State Youth Activation Council and SO North America U.S. Youth Ambassador. As a YAC member, I have had the opportunity to attend monthly meetings, to plan a youth summit, volunteer at the SO State Summer Games, volunteer as a greeter at the JFK Profiles of Courage event and more. Through being a Youth Ambassador, I have been given even more volunteer opportunities, as well as the opportunity to become involved with SO at an even greater level. I have had the opportunity to voluntarily speak at an abundance of events, attend conference calls to share my input and write articles/ blogs to promote SO. I have also been able to meet some of my best friends. As my involvement and volunteering with SO has grown so strong, it has truly become an activity where I don’t feel like I am volunteering anymore. On top of volunteering, I have been able to join multiple Unified Sports teams, Best Buddies and participate in the polar plunge. SO has truly become a big part of my life, I have found a passion in volunteerism through giving speeches and advocating for living in a Unified Generation. After seeing the way some of my best friends with intellectual disabilities have been treated, I never want them to feel excluded again. Being a part of the SO mission and living in a world where people with and without intellectual disabilities can thrive together has become so important to me! My most significant take away from volunteering with Special Olympics, is that you don't have to complete a huge act in order to make a difference. When I was volunteering at basketball games, one of the best ways for me to make an impact was to just talk to the athletes competing. The impact is having on the athletes is huge, as it makes them excited that someone wanted to get to know them and is there to watch them compete. I have been volunteering with SO for seven years now. In high school, I averaged volunteering 8-10 hours a week. In total, I have volunteered over 700 hours.