It was in the backseat of a Honda S.U.V. without A.C. in the middle of summer, driving through the vast beautiful nothingness of the Mojave desert that I first began to build the blocks of who I am now. Though I spent the first 14 years of my life in the vineyards of Southern California, my mother and grandmother refused the limitations of something as minute as geography; they carted my older brothers and I across the country more than three times, even ferrying their way across the gulf of Alaska to its southern coast. It was an expression of our heritage – their adoration of restless exploration that they would pass down to each of us.
Their dedication to nurturing intellectual hunger led me to find my place within the restorative justice movement when my family relocated to Redding, California in 2018. I became part of the Youth Options Shasta organization and the Juvenile Justice Commission of Shasta County, where I advocated for the needs of at-risk youth. I became concurrently enrolled at Shasta College in my senior year. There, I took a philosophy class out of a bit of blasé fascination; by accident, I ended up finding my passion in the subject and realized it was the connecting piece between my path into Law and my dedication to restorative justice. Now that I pursue a Bachelor’s of the Arts in Philosophy at Agnes Scott College, carrying my mother’s and grandmother’s love for exploration and discovery in all aspects of life with me.
