[Music]
in 2013 my dad ran the Columbus marathon
to qualify for the Boston Marathon now
my dad’s been running these marathons
especially the Boston and normally since
before I was even born so it wasn’t
really a shock that he made it that here
so he’s been practicing and during that
time I made him a little goodie bag in
April and and in April I gave him the
little goodie bag I hugged him I said
good luck and he was off on April 15th
2013 I was called out of my math class
at school to answer a phone call from my
mom and as I was walking through the
hallways to answer that call I knew deep
down something wasn’t quite right and so
my suspicions were confirmed when I
answered the call so when I got into the
office I picked up the phone and my mom
told me that there was a bombing at the
marathon and we hadn’t heard from my dad
yet and during that time when I was
waiting to hear from my dad I didn’t
know what to do I didn’t know what to
say I was just frozen it was a it was as
if time had frozen and it was suspended
over my head and rewound I just didn’t
know what to do
but I was one of the lucky ones I heard
from my dad he was okay and he was safe
and unharmed at a coffee shop and so
eventually like moved on as if it never
really happened I mean although it was
horrible and really scary to go through
I mean nothing like that would happen
again we were one of the lucky ones we
had him back at home and nothing like
that would happen right but it did a few
years later three years later on
November 28 2016 I was bombarded with
text after text after text message
during one of my literature classes from
my mom and eventually my dad about
trouble on the Ohio State University
campus and you have to keep in mind I
was kind of sneaking my phone out of my
pocket so I wasn’t getting the complete
story I didn’t know what was happening I
didn’t know exactly where my dad was
when this was happening I was only
getting snippy
it’s from my text messages in complete
sentences I didn’t know the full story
so throughout the day that day at school
I was learning from other people about
what happened and I just felt so sad
that my dad had to go through another
experience like that so close only three
years after the Boston Marathon and did
the same person like what’s the
coincidence and so this really got me
thinking this can happen to anyone at
anytime so according to an article that
I read on terror trends analyzing 40
years worth of data on terror trends
both international and domestic
terrorism through 1969 to 2009 around
5600 people lost their lives and more
than 16,000 300 people were injured due
to international tourism directed at the
United States and this really goes to
show that it can really happen to anyone
because throughout this time it’s only
increased since 2009
and throughout this experience this is
what I’ve learned in general although we
live in a constant fear because our
world we live in a world in which we are
under constant threat of terrorism and
violence but we don’t always have to
live in a constant fear I’ve been
interested in pursuing a law enforcement
career since I was so young but these
experiences although they were tragic
they really honed my experience and they
really inspired me to go into
counterterrorism and that’s what I plan
to do
and so these experiences really taught
me that we have to take action rather
than letting our fear trap us in a
bubble and we can really recover from
anything
[Applause]
in 2013 my dad ran the Columbus marathon
to qualify for the Boston Marathon now
my dad’s been running these marathons
especially the Boston and normally since
before I was even born so it wasn’t
really a shock that he made it that here
so he’s been practicing and during that
time I made him a little goodie bag in
April and and in April I gave him the
little goodie bag I hugged him I said
good luck and he was off on April 15th
2013 I was called out of my math class
at school to answer a phone call from my
mom and as I was walking through the
hallways to answer that call I knew deep
down something wasn’t quite right and so
my suspicions were confirmed when I
answered the call so when I got into the
office I picked up the phone and my mom
told me that there was a bombing at the
marathon and we hadn’t heard from my dad
yet and during that time when I was
waiting to hear from my dad I didn’t
know what to do I didn’t know what to
say I was just frozen it was a it was as
if time had frozen and it was suspended
over my head and rewound I just didn’t
know what to do
but I was one of the lucky ones I heard
from my dad he was okay and he was safe
and unharmed at a coffee shop and so
eventually like moved on as if it never
really happened I mean although it was
horrible and really scary to go through
I mean nothing like that would happen
again we were one of the lucky ones we
had him back at home and nothing like
that would happen right but it did a few
years later three years later on
November 28 2016 I was bombarded with
text after text after text message
during one of my literature classes from
my mom and eventually my dad about
trouble on the Ohio State University
campus and you have to keep in mind I
was kind of sneaking my phone out of my
pocket so I wasn’t getting the complete
story I didn’t know what was happening I
didn’t know exactly where my dad was
when this was happening I was only
getting snippy
it’s from my text messages in complete
sentences I didn’t know the full story
so throughout the day that day at school
I was learning from other people about
what happened and I just felt so sad
that my dad had to go through another
experience like that so close only three
years after the Boston Marathon and did
the same person like what’s the
coincidence and so this really got me
thinking this can happen to anyone at
anytime so according to an article that
I read on terror trends analyzing 40
years worth of data on terror trends
both international and domestic
terrorism through 1969 to 2009 around
5600 people lost their lives and more
than 16,000 300 people were injured due
to international tourism directed at the
United States and this really goes to
show that it can really happen to anyone
because throughout this time it’s only
increased since 2009
and throughout this experience this is
what I’ve learned in general although we
live in a constant fear because our
world we live in a world in which we are
under constant threat of terrorism and
violence but we don’t always have to
live in a constant fear I’ve been
interested in pursuing a law enforcement
career since I was so young but these
experiences although they were tragic
they really honed my experience and they
really inspired me to go into
counterterrorism and that’s what I plan
to do
and so these experiences really taught
me that we have to take action rather
than letting our fear trap us in a
bubble and we can really recover from
anything
[Applause]
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