As an incoming first year at Wheelock, I was excited to enter into a community that preached about its acceptance. I was firm in my identity and confident in who I was and I really believed that Wheelock would help me to promote that. This was not the case. While I do still wholeheartedly support the mission of our school, I felt like my voice was lost. Because we do cover such problematic issues here, I began to feel as if my own opinion did not matter. If I voiced my opinion it was either shot down or not heard, so I stopped voicing it. I did not feel accepted here like I thought I would, and my identity felt squandered. I came here because I thought Wheelock would help me to promote my voice, not stop it.
Since then, I have come to realize my voice is what I make it. I am a sister, I am a daughter, I am a friend, I am an advocator, I am going to let my voice be heard. My time here has made me realize that if I want to be heard I cannot simply sit back and expect it to be, I believe that my voice is important, just as all other student are, and I hope we reach a point where Wheelock will listen to each student on an individual level in order to benefit the college as a whole.
