Finding My Voice by Jose Romero

My name is Jose Romero. I live in Brooklyn, I am 18 years old. I graduated last month from High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology. I have two brothers, and I love to watch movies with my family and friends. I joined Disability Champions because the Department of Education thought that I would be a good fit to be in disability champions and I wanted to try it out.I think advocacy is important because an advocate is someone who speaks up for a group or supports them. I advocated for my friends and the freshmen students at my school when they needed help with work or when they needed advice. 

A challenge I faced during my high school journey was doubting myself because every time I had the answers I would doubt myself in all of my classes and never share my answers with the teacher. The way I overcame my challenges was by going to my friends and teachers and asking them for help and seeing if my answers were right then sharing it with the class. Some advice I would give to people is don’t be nervous to ask for help because when you ask for help your friends or family and teachers will help you when you need help. 

One goal I want to accomplish is finishing college and becoming successful with my friends. They can help me with what I want to accomplish. My dream is to become a film director and make my own movies and I want my friends to be a part of the cast . My strengths are being helpful and kind. In high school I would always help my friends with homework and with class work; and even when I am home I would always help around the house. I would always help my parents with housework and cooking. I am always  nice to everyone when I just meet them. My goals are to finish college and be successful, with my friends. The way that my strength will help in college is I’ll share my notes with students when they miss class, be nice to everyone and help students when they miss a day of school. I would give them the notes.  
The values that individuals can learn is to help others no matter if they are different because we are all the same. We can use positive self image to improve advocacy because you can give yourself time to grow and strengthen more of your advocacy and it can motivate you and other people. Self confidence can help you get  motivated and encourage you to do things and it can also motivate and encourage you to accomplish your goals and for other people to do what they want to accomplish in their lives. 
I hope that the next group of interns learns to do the same skills  that we did this the summer and they can improve on our work and make it better so that we can change or improve the laws for people with disabilities.