Laura Grayson recommended JJ to participate here. Laura and JJ have gotten to know each other through JJ's friendship with Laura's daughter and she had great things to say about his community involvement. We had a wonderful conversation about affecting positive change and I found JJ's perspective on the matter, as an activated student leader, to be inspirational.

When I was 17, I was living in a bubble of extreme Christianity in an economically impoverished part of rural Maine. I know I was thinking about a lot, but I don't think it was about cultural phobias and racism and climate change and mental health. However, those are issues I've become aware of and engaged in since. And after talking with him, I am so curious to know what change JJ's generation will instigate as these are the issues defining this time and these are the issues they've grown up with. I'm sure JJ is a stand-out example of his generation, but my interaction with him did inspire some feelings of hope that there are more eager young folks looking to influence big change.