Passions
Animals
As a proud vegetarian, I consider myself to be an animal rights advocate. I truly believe animals are such a gift to our world. They are majestic and must be protected. In fourth grade, I wrote a letter to the President of the United States (President Obama) and the Governor of Nebraska (Dave Heineman) regarding my concern of animal poaching. I was elated when I received a response from both. In eighth grade, my forensics speech centered around critical need to preserve our Earth's biodiversity.
In the picture to the left, you can see one of our beloved foster dogs, Morty, and I sleeping together on the couch. We have fostered three dogs: S'more (Lab mix), Morty (Boxer) and MacDuff (Husky Mix), and we hope to foster more. Fostering is an incredible way to provide an adorable rescue dog with a loving home while they wait to find their forever family. As soon as I am the appropriate age, I will apply to volunteer at a local animal shelter. I hope to do more advocate work as well. We are only given one Earth. It is of the utmost importance that we take care of it.
Periods.
This year, in forensics/competitive speech, I gave a speech on periods, and it did surprisingly well. No, not the punctuation mark you put on the end of a sentence. I'm talking about monthly "gifts" that are considered to be taboo in so many cultures including my own. I am not afraid to openly talk about periods or my personal experience as a menstruating individual. In fact, it brings me pride to publicly say that I menstruate, and yeah, it can be extremely painful sometimes, but I couldn't be prouder of my body.
This year, I tried working with a state senator to ban the tax on menstrual products in my state. The bill was not considered to be a priority item in the legislative session, but I always have next year. My peers and I will continue to work towards eradicating the menstrual tax because periods are not gross, they are literally the source of life for all of humanity.
Protests
I strongly believe in exercising my constitutional rights. After the tragedy of the Parkland Florida School Shooting, there was a March For Our Lives in my city, Omaha. I proudly went with both my parents to show my support and fight for gun control legislation. That is the only protest march I have been to, however, if there is a protest for an issue I am passionate about, you can count on me being there.