About Me

As a neurodivergent student myself, I know firsthand the challenges, misconceptions, and barriers that students like me face in the education system. At three years old, I was diagnosed with a speech delay significant enough to require daily speech therapy under an Individualized Education Program (IEP). While my peers effortlessly picked up counting and early words, I struggled to count past twelve. By age six, my triennial IEP assessment revealed my speech development was three years behind, marking the start of a journey full of academic barriers. In the fifth grade I was also diagnosed with ADHD and severe anxiety. However, my greatest obstacle wasn't neurological struggles, but the stereotypes and assumptions it brought–perceptions that tried to define what I could achieve before I had the chance to prove myself.
This stigma became more evident in the ninth grade when a staff member, during my annual IEP meeting, advised me not to take a foreign language to keep my workload manageable. Their suggestion made it clear they didn't expect me to go directly to a four-year university after high school since completing two years of a foreign language is a standard requirement for admission. Hearing that was not very encouraging, but it sparked something in me: a determination to redefine what was possible.