[Music]
imagine how uncomfortable the costume in
this picture was you might see this
picture and think that it’s silly or
funny but there’s a deeper story to it
during the first week of high school I
was volunteering for Key Club at a local
festival it was my first volunteer event
and even though I thought it was silly
or funny the small act actually changed
me forever at our booth the salmon bake
we are raising scholarships for local
high schoolers when my job was to walk
around in this costume and advertise our
event now as a young high school girl
and a cardboard fish I had spotlight
syndrome I thought people are staring at
me and probably laughing – but then my
eye caught this pink puffy parka she
could have been taller than a two liter
coke bottle this little girl saw me and
she smiled I waved at her and she waved
back it was a simple exchange but I
realized that it wasn’t alone in the
crowd I looked around me and my
perspective shifted people are smiling
at me instead of laughing and I started
smiling back at them some of them even
approached me and asked me what the
costume was for and then they went to
support our scholarship fund because of
my simple exchange with this little girl
I realized how much of a difference one
act could make and how one smile could
change a perspective forever
ever since community service has been my
passion but not even more passionate
about spreading that love for service
with others now my story all begins with
the secret I have inflammatory bowel
disease several you might know it as
Crohn’s disease and colitis
when I was nine years old I started
getting really sick and the doctors
didn’t know life and finally a year
later on my tenth birthday the doctor
called me and gave me a diagnosis not
what he asked for my birthday but I know
this chronic illness though it changed
me forever at first I didn’t understand
how serious this disease really was but
I was told not to tell anyone because
kids might not like that I was different
now
when I entered middle school though it
became hard to hide my illness I went to
the hospital a lot I miss school I
gained weight to the point of obesity
and I felt so sick all the time
I finally understood how serious this
disease really was and how it felt like
to be different kind of like a freak can
you imagine how that felt to be alone
and afraid
I felt so different from everyone and it
pushed me into a pit of depression I
felt guilty for being sick for being
different
even for missing school and not being
able to take out my friends anymore
and that isolated me I felt like I
couldn’t talk to anybody or connect with
anyone anymore my parents thought that
online support groups with help and
those online groups gave me a connection
and information but only on social media
I needed a real-life connection so the
summer before my freshman year I
attended camp for kids with my illness
it was called caribou Oasis and I met
some of my best friend’s in the whole
world
I felt rejuvenated connected and happy
even we learned how to be resilient and
friend the positives in this disease I
finally felt hopeful after a long time
but that hope didn’t last
back-to-school season began and I
started my first few weeks of high
school I could already feel myself being
pulled down again because they hadn’t
made any real friendships around me but
then my savior came to rescue me my
sister was president of a lot of service
clubs and she gave me some of the most
valuable advice I hold to this day she
said that the friends that you make in
your service clubs are the ones that
will be friends with you throughout high
school and beyond those like the clubs
that will shape you and those are the
friends that will matter so choose your
clubs wide sleeve my parents were
telling me to bill to join clubs to to
build an impressive college app in fact
my whole family was pressuring me but it
pushed back into faience
and I joined a lesser known club instead
I joined this new club because it was
the first one on the catalogue that said
of fun I wanted to have fired me for
once
and not focus on my academic life or the
pressure of my illness I went to the
clubs that I wanted to go to and I made
the friends that I wanted to make I felt
independent and good now later on I
would realize that I wasn’t being so
rebellious because there’s still service
clubs but this small act defines
actually cheating my perspective just
like that volunteer event with the
little girl had service clubs taught me
how fond volunteering can be and I
finally established real genuine and
close connections again
putting myself in the service of others
help me find happiness and confidence I
spoke in front of thousands of people
about my passion I went on walks for
charities and even went to conventions
to meet kids who also loved volunteering
I couldn’t even have the time to focus
on being sick there was so much good
going on life was moving forward I was
going on adventures and everything
finally seemed like it was falling into
place
but that Nina happened
this is Nina she is beautiful she was
nice and she is new Nina had just moved
here from Canada and she seemed like
another new kid but there was more to
her than people could see it at the
beginning of my sophomore year my family
got a call from Mia’s school my dad
called me dad for a family meeting and
he said sorry grandbaby
someone from your school died today
I was shocked all I could get out was
wet who they didn’t know serving
upstairs locked myself in my room and
texted everyone I knew to find out who
it was and then I found out it was Nina
a beautiful amazing girl my friend and
it crushed me
she was on the soccer team and she had
great friends Nina seems like a normal
teen little did I know that she was
battling mental illness the few people
that I had known who had committed
suicide had Crohn’s disease just like me
but Nina’s death shook me the most she
didn’t even have Crohn’s I don’t know
what was going on with her depression or
what led her to take her own life but it
reminded me of my own struggle and my
own depression I used to be so focused
on things that used to seem important to
me like homecoming or the SATs but that
night I wondered what homecoming dress
Nina would have wanted to wear or what
college Nina would have wanted to go to
that night I went on every social media
platform to attempt to find solace with
my peers I found heartwarming posts like
rest in peace Nina or she’s in a better
place now and at first it made me feel
relieved like we were trying to mourn
together and made me feel like a part of
that a part of something some of us were
even planning to wear black the next day
and prepare a vigil but then the next
day came and everything was going back
to normal around school teachers said
that if we need to talk to them we could
but the topic was not for discussion the
subject was dismissed in less than five
minutes and when I went in the hallways
it seemed as if nothing had even
happened it was surreal and when I went
home on social media I saw the snapchat
and Instagram story is disappear one by
one as if the suicide was only grief
worthy for 24 hours and then I realized
something then teens have learned how to
communicate through cyberspace not
reality
we express ourselves through shorthand
texting and emojis social media may
connect us at times but this time it
disconnected us from reality from the
impact of Nina’s death the connexxus in
terms of hardship isn’t social media
because I knew that I knew better and
what I want to bring to you today is
another light a new sense of connection
something that starts more locally
community service because I knew better
because I had been there because when I
came back from camp I felt my connection
from social media fade I felt my
connection from those online support
groups virtually disappear but the only
other time that I felt so connected was
through volunteering and that’s when I
realized that community service is the
bridge I’m sharing in a story today and
how hers affected mine to carry on her
legacy because there may be in viña in
the audience right now someone who’s
struggling with depression right now and
let me tell you you’re not alone I was
in Nina at one point the person sitting
on your right and sitting on your left
was a Nina at one point we all feel
alone and afraid but social media hides
that because it gives us a false sense
of perfection and connection community
service though gives us a real sense of
connection volunteering allowed me to
take control of my own life and that’s
what I want to share with you however
when this talk is over life goes on and
everything goes back to normal
and isn’t that easy to be inspired for a
day but then just to go back to the same
old routine but that’s not why you’re
here
we’re here to see how we can change the
future so let’s take the first step
instead of asking teams what they want
to do when they grow up ask them what
they want to do now because this gives
them the power to take control of their
own futures and I know thousands of
teens who do that do the hash tag day
State movement this global movement is
about how some people say that teens
can’t make change
they say that we don’t have the power to
control the future
and I used to see it feel the same way I
felt like I couldn’t do anything about
Nina or my disease I can though but it
can’t do it alone because one person
can’t do everything but everyone can do
something
so teens we spend our whole lives
copying adults but you know what
be a voice not an echo try volunteering
out and see not only what it does for
others but what it will do for you
community service did so much for me
it’s the medicine that heals me it’s
what pulled me out from my own
depression and what pulled me forward
during that low put in my life when I
learned that Nina had died you don’t
have to have a chronic illness like I do
or be a victim of suicide like Nina to
be hurting everyone feels pain let
volunteering heal you to let it bring
out the best most beautiful version of
you and your community why because I
don’t believe community service is the
right thing to do I believe it’s the
best thing to do thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
imagine how uncomfortable the costume in
this picture was you might see this
picture and think that it’s silly or
funny but there’s a deeper story to it
during the first week of high school I
was volunteering for Key Club at a local
festival it was my first volunteer event
and even though I thought it was silly
or funny the small act actually changed
me forever at our booth the salmon bake
we are raising scholarships for local
high schoolers when my job was to walk
around in this costume and advertise our
event now as a young high school girl
and a cardboard fish I had spotlight
syndrome I thought people are staring at
me and probably laughing – but then my
eye caught this pink puffy parka she
could have been taller than a two liter
coke bottle this little girl saw me and
she smiled I waved at her and she waved
back it was a simple exchange but I
realized that it wasn’t alone in the
crowd I looked around me and my
perspective shifted people are smiling
at me instead of laughing and I started
smiling back at them some of them even
approached me and asked me what the
costume was for and then they went to
support our scholarship fund because of
my simple exchange with this little girl
I realized how much of a difference one
act could make and how one smile could
change a perspective forever
ever since community service has been my
passion but not even more passionate
about spreading that love for service
with others now my story all begins with
the secret I have inflammatory bowel
disease several you might know it as
Crohn’s disease and colitis
when I was nine years old I started
getting really sick and the doctors
didn’t know life and finally a year
later on my tenth birthday the doctor
called me and gave me a diagnosis not
what he asked for my birthday but I know
this chronic illness though it changed
me forever at first I didn’t understand
how serious this disease really was but
I was told not to tell anyone because
kids might not like that I was different
now
when I entered middle school though it
became hard to hide my illness I went to
the hospital a lot I miss school I
gained weight to the point of obesity
and I felt so sick all the time
I finally understood how serious this
disease really was and how it felt like
to be different kind of like a freak can
you imagine how that felt to be alone
and afraid
I felt so different from everyone and it
pushed me into a pit of depression I
felt guilty for being sick for being
different
even for missing school and not being
able to take out my friends anymore
and that isolated me I felt like I
couldn’t talk to anybody or connect with
anyone anymore my parents thought that
online support groups with help and
those online groups gave me a connection
and information but only on social media
I needed a real-life connection so the
summer before my freshman year I
attended camp for kids with my illness
it was called caribou Oasis and I met
some of my best friend’s in the whole
world
I felt rejuvenated connected and happy
even we learned how to be resilient and
friend the positives in this disease I
finally felt hopeful after a long time
but that hope didn’t last
back-to-school season began and I
started my first few weeks of high
school I could already feel myself being
pulled down again because they hadn’t
made any real friendships around me but
then my savior came to rescue me my
sister was president of a lot of service
clubs and she gave me some of the most
valuable advice I hold to this day she
said that the friends that you make in
your service clubs are the ones that
will be friends with you throughout high
school and beyond those like the clubs
that will shape you and those are the
friends that will matter so choose your
clubs wide sleeve my parents were
telling me to bill to join clubs to to
build an impressive college app in fact
my whole family was pressuring me but it
pushed back into faience
and I joined a lesser known club instead
I joined this new club because it was
the first one on the catalogue that said
of fun I wanted to have fired me for
once
and not focus on my academic life or the
pressure of my illness I went to the
clubs that I wanted to go to and I made
the friends that I wanted to make I felt
independent and good now later on I
would realize that I wasn’t being so
rebellious because there’s still service
clubs but this small act defines
actually cheating my perspective just
like that volunteer event with the
little girl had service clubs taught me
how fond volunteering can be and I
finally established real genuine and
close connections again
putting myself in the service of others
help me find happiness and confidence I
spoke in front of thousands of people
about my passion I went on walks for
charities and even went to conventions
to meet kids who also loved volunteering
I couldn’t even have the time to focus
on being sick there was so much good
going on life was moving forward I was
going on adventures and everything
finally seemed like it was falling into
place
but that Nina happened
this is Nina she is beautiful she was
nice and she is new Nina had just moved
here from Canada and she seemed like
another new kid but there was more to
her than people could see it at the
beginning of my sophomore year my family
got a call from Mia’s school my dad
called me dad for a family meeting and
he said sorry grandbaby
someone from your school died today
I was shocked all I could get out was
wet who they didn’t know serving
upstairs locked myself in my room and
texted everyone I knew to find out who
it was and then I found out it was Nina
a beautiful amazing girl my friend and
it crushed me
she was on the soccer team and she had
great friends Nina seems like a normal
teen little did I know that she was
battling mental illness the few people
that I had known who had committed
suicide had Crohn’s disease just like me
but Nina’s death shook me the most she
didn’t even have Crohn’s I don’t know
what was going on with her depression or
what led her to take her own life but it
reminded me of my own struggle and my
own depression I used to be so focused
on things that used to seem important to
me like homecoming or the SATs but that
night I wondered what homecoming dress
Nina would have wanted to wear or what
college Nina would have wanted to go to
that night I went on every social media
platform to attempt to find solace with
my peers I found heartwarming posts like
rest in peace Nina or she’s in a better
place now and at first it made me feel
relieved like we were trying to mourn
together and made me feel like a part of
that a part of something some of us were
even planning to wear black the next day
and prepare a vigil but then the next
day came and everything was going back
to normal around school teachers said
that if we need to talk to them we could
but the topic was not for discussion the
subject was dismissed in less than five
minutes and when I went in the hallways
it seemed as if nothing had even
happened it was surreal and when I went
home on social media I saw the snapchat
and Instagram story is disappear one by
one as if the suicide was only grief
worthy for 24 hours and then I realized
something then teens have learned how to
communicate through cyberspace not
reality
we express ourselves through shorthand
texting and emojis social media may
connect us at times but this time it
disconnected us from reality from the
impact of Nina’s death the connexxus in
terms of hardship isn’t social media
because I knew that I knew better and
what I want to bring to you today is
another light a new sense of connection
something that starts more locally
community service because I knew better
because I had been there because when I
came back from camp I felt my connection
from social media fade I felt my
connection from those online support
groups virtually disappear but the only
other time that I felt so connected was
through volunteering and that’s when I
realized that community service is the
bridge I’m sharing in a story today and
how hers affected mine to carry on her
legacy because there may be in viña in
the audience right now someone who’s
struggling with depression right now and
let me tell you you’re not alone I was
in Nina at one point the person sitting
on your right and sitting on your left
was a Nina at one point we all feel
alone and afraid but social media hides
that because it gives us a false sense
of perfection and connection community
service though gives us a real sense of
connection volunteering allowed me to
take control of my own life and that’s
what I want to share with you however
when this talk is over life goes on and
everything goes back to normal
and isn’t that easy to be inspired for a
day but then just to go back to the same
old routine but that’s not why you’re
here
we’re here to see how we can change the
future so let’s take the first step
instead of asking teams what they want
to do when they grow up ask them what
they want to do now because this gives
them the power to take control of their
own futures and I know thousands of
teens who do that do the hash tag day
State movement this global movement is
about how some people say that teens
can’t make change
they say that we don’t have the power to
control the future
and I used to see it feel the same way I
felt like I couldn’t do anything about
Nina or my disease I can though but it
can’t do it alone because one person
can’t do everything but everyone can do
something
so teens we spend our whole lives
copying adults but you know what
be a voice not an echo try volunteering
out and see not only what it does for
others but what it will do for you
community service did so much for me
it’s the medicine that heals me it’s
what pulled me out from my own
depression and what pulled me forward
during that low put in my life when I
learned that Nina had died you don’t
have to have a chronic illness like I do
or be a victim of suicide like Nina to
be hurting everyone feels pain let
volunteering heal you to let it bring
out the best most beautiful version of
you and your community why because I
don’t believe community service is the
right thing to do I believe it’s the
best thing to do thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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