I was raised in a single parent household and at some point in time in my life, have been on many of the available low-income government programs. This was mostly due to my biological father’s insistence that abortion was the only choice for my ‘life’, and my mother did whatever she needed to do to remove herself from that situation and raise me herself. She put herself through college starting when I was four, and I used to attend college classes with her when she couldn’t find affordable daycare. I actually ended up going to that same community college myself, mostly part-time, because in my household one thing was clear: if you want something, you earn it. Anything that was not a basic necessity was my responsibility to provide for myself. This is not a common point of view that most of today’s generations are raised with, at least not in the 98 percent blue community I grew up in, but this means I have been working in some capacity since I was nine. At a certain point in time, calling myself a conservative was the last step: I had already been raised with strong family values, anti-abortion beliefs, and valuing economic and financial independence, even if not yet fully actualized. I also know from first-hand experience how crowded and over-saturated government programs are, and that adding more beneficiaries is absolutely not the answer. Becoming an adult and much more confident in standing up for my beliefs piqued my interest in participating in college clubs and professional conferences. I was an active member of my alma mater’s Campus Republicans group, which in turn led to constant access to discuss and debate all ‘hot button’ topics and not only hone my own opinions, but become more prepared to face the opposing side. This also led to becoming more outspoken on social media platforms, which is how I’ve found a number of great activism organizations, including NeW. I’m not sure what the future holds career wise just yet, but as long as I am working toward something I believe in, I consider myself on the right track; and I believe in the young conservative movement.