Hello, I’m Jacob, I am a former sophomore and soon to be a Junior high school student. I'm quite introverted and often find myself in discussions or arguments because it helps build my sense of community. One of my goals is to write a story inspired by a topic that deeply moves me. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and tend to procrastinate, so almost every activity I take on seems to involve me falling into one of these habits. I enjoy drawing characters or backgrounds, reading books like A Song of Ice and Fire and Lord of the Rings, and analyzing tv series and movies for entertainment and understanding what captivates me. In the future, I aspire to become a film connoisseur. Being a film connoisseur means I need to analyze things with a keen eye, which I consider one of my strengths. I also have to connect various elements of the media to understand how they come together. This involves considering the composition of a film—the individual parts and choices that create the finished piece. Film analysis goes beyond treating a film as literature; it also includes examining camera angles, lighting, set design, sound elements, costume choices, editing, and more.
 
There was a time when I once stood up for a friend who was being harassed by another student in school. The harasser used a number of pejorative sexist language and inappropriate names, which really hurt my friend. She told me about it later, and I advised her to report such incidents to teachers immediately. No one would help her if she didn't tell anyone what her problem was and she waited until lunch time to tell me. I told the student to stop or I would report them to teachers to get them suspended, which did help stop the issue.
 
I’ve been involved in heated discussions that sometimes escalated into insults. I’ve managed to diffuse these situations before they got out of hand, and felt good about handling them maturely. Sometimes I allow my proclivities to take over and sometimes I get ahead of myself in these situations and end up making a situation that wasn’t bad or worth dealing with much worse because of my mishandling of it.   
 
I believe that adopting a positive mindset – focusing on growth, optimism, and accountability – can help individuals build strong relationships and confidence. Viewing oneself positively fosters self - reflection and helps navigate various environments effectively. This approach can also inspire others' image, encouraging acceptance and unity within diverse communities. self can foster strong self-reflection and confidence in others to build relationships. I think another good benefit of viewing myself in a positive way is having the confidence and reassurance of doing something without making decisions that hinder judgment or adapting to a workplace environment. Having a positive self-image can lead them by example to inspire confidence so that different communities could build bridges where differences are accepted and promoted so that others can do the same as well.
 
I used to struggle with understanding my autism or ADHD diagnoses even considering I wasn’t diagnosed till the 4th grade. I worried that something was wrong with me, but I’ve learned to view these challenges through a lens of coping and adapting.
 
 
 
 
 

​I am Natalie and I work for the Disability Champions Mentoring Network through SYEP. My goal in the future is to travel the world and be successful in my career. I would like to become an ultrasound technician. I advocate for myself at times when it comes to setting my goals. Advocating for myself helps with support and helps me push myself towards any challenges I face. I experience career pressure challenges and worry about how my future may turn out. Advocating for yourself is necessary because it can give you the right mindset you need for your own success. I also advocate for my little brother with his autism diagnosis. My brother is three and has autism, this was a new experience for me but as he was learning, I was as well. One of my goals is to help him improve his communication skills.
 
Viewing yourself in a positive way can better your mental health because it can enable you to cope better with stressful situations and can reduce harmful health effects on your body. When your state of mind is optimistic, you’re better at handling everyday stress. When you focus on the good things and surround yourself with positivity, it can help give you motivation. A person can learn how to be accepting and have self-confidence so they can help themselves with their challenges. It is important to learn respect for yourself and others because it helps communicate with adults and peers to understand social cues. 
 
I relate disability with myself and my brother. When having a disability, it’s important to focus on what you are capable of doing and how you do it, in your own way. In order to help others with a disability feel comfortable, you need to see the person for who they are and not their disability. 

My Journey Through Success and Failure
 
When it comes to success and failure, I have had my fair share of fails and wins but when I was younger, I didn’t understand that without failing you can never succeed or get better at things, now I know that every time I fail something that failure helps me learn what I did wrong. I am a high schooler currently going into my junior year 2 months after the creation of this story about me and my journey of discovering the truth behind failure and success. As of the creation and possibly the publishing of this story, I am 16 years old and I am trying to be in my school's basketball team. I also like Beyblade and I have a good enough collection ready for a tournament. I have a lot of changes in my perspective on failure and at some point, I felt that failure was something I couldn’t control I was right to an extent but I learned that you can’t control if you fail at something you’ve never done before but if you gain an understanding of something you can have a certain amount of control over how you succeed or fail at it. People asked me how I go without quitting something completely or why I keep going back to things that I said I would quit years back. My answer to those questions is that I just use quitting something I get frustrated with as an excuse to think more about it and go back to it later or when I remember about it. Overall, I’ve always been very stubborn with things I find interest in and I tend to stop doing those things occasionally and go back to those things later on in my life.
 
          I could see myself doing good in basketball soon and I plan to go straight into college after high school. I also plan to travel to Japan or even Hong Kong (mainly to make friends in Hong Kong) either before the end of college or after college. I also hope to get into the NBA after I finish college and potentially after high school although I probably won’t be good enough by the end of high school, I believe I could get to that level during college. I have been doing things related to digital art and have printed 2 projects so far as of July 2024 just to test a 3d printer. Additionally, I want to start creating my own 3d models using templates or even from scratch. Furthermore, I will add a few photos of what I have printed throughout this story as I have printed over 15 - 20 projects as of August 15, 2024.
 
          I would like to make a detour from my interests and talk about disability. I have ADHD and I’m on the low end of the spectrum of autism but I haven’t been affected by the autism. I see disabilities as something that could harm someone's potential or it could just not affect their lives but I wouldn’t say having a disability is a bad thing for most people having a disability is just an obstacle they have to overcome. 
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   I hate Alizah, and everyone hates her too. My Classmates insulted her, degraded her, and picked her flaws apart. Except Alizah was me. At 16 years old, I'd like to believe my heart is stronger now, but my fragile eight-year-old heart shattered when I realized my classmates around me formed an "I Hate Daymoiea" club, and the code name was Alizah.
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    Maybe I don't belong anywhere. That's what I have constantly said every day in my head since I came to this school. Whispers that I'm mean, stuck-up, and rude. However, no one has yet to see through the defensive walls I have put up. It's been my safety route since entering 3rd grade.
On my First day of school, mid-November, the room smelt like autumn and color-changing leaves, and the essence of pumpkin spice flowed through every corner and crevice. My teacher, whose room was festively decorated, welcomed me into her class and expressed how thrilled she was to meet her new student, and that was the first time I heard the whispers—scanning the classroom filled with two dozen sets of eyes analyzing and criticizing my every move. The faces conveyed confusion and curiosity about the intruder who was now being welcomed into their classroom, and instantly, I understood I did not belong.
   At the moment where the puzzle pieces fit perfectly together, all along, my classmates have been humiliating me and taunting me with a code name. The feeling of betrayal flooded my body as my only friend filled me on the secret club, third graders made in hatred of me. Part of me was confused, and I blamed myself for not understanding why. What is wrong with me? Why don't I belong? Who am I? The whispers began to spiral and consumed my thoughts. It was true; I was excluded and outcast, and my classmates ensured they kept it that way. This was my warm welcome to the town of Trumbull, and this rocky foundation supported years of discernment and social anxiety during the upcoming years.
 I held on to that feeling for the rest of the year and brought that feeling and the whispers with me every school year, then middle school, and lastly, high school. I always believed that that feeling would eventually subside. However, it has shaped me into who I am today. I've learned that even though I'm considered mean, stuck up, and rude, that doesn't matter. A sense of belonging is a myth; we're destined to roam on paths where we're not always welcomed. I'm okay with not fitting into a category; it allows me to set my own standards and rules and push social boundaries to which all my peers are confined.
Even though my social anxiety that's rooted in my elementary years weighs me down like heavy baggage every day, I've finally grown to step out of my comfort zone and be open to new experiences. I'm ready for the next chapter of my life to experience new adventures and lessen the load of my heavy baggage. Some days are more complex than others, but nothing beats the heart-shattering feeling my 8-year-old experienced. Instead, I try to redirect my baggage and energy into understanding my true self and attacking the defense mechanisms I was forced to use. I've realized that If I belong anywhere, it's not here.

Hi my name is Imtiaz Abir I am 17 years old and I like riding my bike during free time. This past school year. I had a hard time passing my English and History regents. This is important in order for me to graduate high school. This has been a very big challenge and I felt very sad. I tried my very best and still was not able to pass. I learned that I should never give up and I should always keep trying. Every day I look up something helpful to pass the regents. I watch regents videos and practice the questions. ELA and History regents are similar because both of them have multiple choices to answer and essays to write. I have a hard time of writing an essay because I have a hard time writing and describing the passage. The essay needs to have more than one sentence in each paragraph.
​       Every time I failed, I used that as an opportunity to try and understand how I could learn from this and  what I can change for the future. Failure can be a bad thing because I´m not able to graduate high school if I don't pass. It's not always a bad thing because as long as I try I´m proud of myself. Some people take the exam and they pass and some people fail and that's a normal part of life. From this experience, I learned to continue trying to pass my exam. Failing the exam changed me as a person because it made me less scared to fail.
        My personal failures gave me an opportunity to learn from my mistakes. Because I have made these mistakes in the past, I am aware of what I need to correct or change. When things go
wrong in life I can reflect on where I may have gone wrong and make some corrections. This can apply to personal relationships as well as in the work environment and in my career.
        My disability is autism and I embrace my disability because it's okay to be different and it comes with its strengths. Within my disability, my strengths are being independent, and focusing on building my skills and abilities. My weakness within my disability is struggling to make new friends and social skills including talking and understanding other people. My plans for the future are to make a lot of friends and study to become a computer scientist. I would like to go to Baruch College. Also, I will learn how to drive a car and get a driver’s license.
            The best day of my life is driving a car and getting a driver's license and buying a lot of stuff on my own in each store and online. I would like to start working at 10 am and I would like to start working from home. I would feel good about doing the career I love. I would see a lot of nature in my surrounding area. Having a job would help my personal life by being more organized.
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My name is Kelly Zheng, I like to sing, and dance. I'm also graduating from high school next year when I'm 21 years old. I also love cats and dogs. I like to play games in my free time. My favorite colors are purple, black, pink, royal blue, & light green. My favorite food is sushi because it is very delicious and very tasty.
 
I help with my classmates, if they don't know any questions or answers, I always help them in need. I also share my snacks with my friends. I am a nice person who helps my classmates with questions and shares snacks with my classmates and my friends.
 
When I get bullied by my classmates, they will call me fat and ugly, and start to make fun of me and laugh at me because they’ll judge the color of my skin. They will also call me death threats to me, saying “Kelly, go and crash and die”, & “Kelly, go to hell, everyone hates you” and it makes me so angry. When my classmates call me ugly and fat and laugh at me and it makes me upset and sad. It also makes me angry and mad because someone can hurt my feelings.
 
I would tell them to a teacher, or principal, or a dean. They would get into trouble and they would think about what they say and how they would stop being mean and how to be nicer. I would try to ignore them or go listen to my calm music on my Spotify.
 
Bullying is not okay it could cause a suicide, and they would not stop because they are mean and not nice to one and another. If someone is going through a hard time getting bullied, they should ignore them or tell someone in school. Bullying is not okay because it would hurt someone’s feelings. They would get into trouble for bullying or fighting someone that they don't know. They would get into trouble by their parents for being mean and not being nice to others. They will learn their lesson by being nicer. If anyone is going through a hard time or getting bullied, they should not listen to them and they should listen to calm music.
 
My goals for the future are getting a job, making money, getting a nice big house, getting a motorcycle, getting a pet cat, going on vacations, becoming a baker, and cooking food. I want to be a baker because I like baking sweets such as cookies, cupcakes, cakes, donuts, croissants, and muffins because they are the best goodies and they're delicious. I enjoy making them because I have a class in high school and every day in the second period, my cooking teacher always prepares us with rules and how to follow them and not mess it up.
    
I also like to make my own music and become a musician. I also love working with kids, because kids are so amazing. I also love to take care of dogs and cats because they get sick and I want them to get better.