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“In the end, I just want everyone to be the best possible version of themselves they can be – and if that means doing things like staying up to help with an essay, showing up to performances, and dedicating my future to activism, then that’s what I want to do.” –Sam Nousak

 

The summer before entering college, my future roommates and I had a group chat on Facebook. They were all sophomores and already knew each other, which was intimidating for me, but then Sam messaged me separately to see how I was feeling and to make sure I didn't feel like I was being excluded. It was so relieving for me to know that I was going to be able to connect to my roommates and that they were going to try their best to incorporate me into the suite, which did not take long at all. Being a very attached person, I was terrified of leaving my parents and friends, but having Sam try to get to know me right away helped assuage my worries. Over the past nine months, Sam and I have become very close and are rooming together next semester. We are also both studying abroad in Keele, England for the semester next Spring.  It is a comfort for me to know that I can count on her support for anything, because I see how much she cares about all her other friends. She is always willing to drop everything to be there for someone else when they really need it. In this aspect, we are very similar, and our meanings in life are closely aligned. We want others to be able to come to us when they are upset and we want to make them feel better.  In addition to this, Sam is committing her life to try to end the stigma that surrounds mental disabilities and illnesses.  She suffers from anxiety and depression herself and has many friends who suffer from these and other mental illnesses, yet she is still a fully functioning adult and is able to work, tutor, form close relationships, etc. that many people believe those with mental illnesses cannot do.  She is also a very good student and has pulled a 4.0 GPA every semester because she does not allow her illness to affect her schooling.  I admire her so much for working so hard to ensure that people stop treating those with mental illnesses as helpless and incompetent, and her devotion to this makes me want to speak up and join the fight to end the stigma as well.  This also affects me because as a teacher, I need to understand that even if students have mental illnesses, it does not mean that they are incapable of succeeding, which Sam helps me understand daily.

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