Sierra

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My passion in this life is to be an advocate to those who do not have a voice in this world and to help bring awareness and change to people among minority, women and youth populations.

“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of person kind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely?” By Leo Buscaglia

The quote stated above is one of the main reasons why I am so passionate about being an activist for youth and minorities. I live my life trying to gain more knowledge and understanding so I can help others who affected with sexual health diseases, HIV/AIDS, and many other issues that plague minority and youth populations. When I entered college I knew I wanted to be involved in bringing awareness to communities whose voices are not often heard. I had no idea how I would impact lives or whether I had the ability to help. During my freshman year in college while on a Alternative Spring Break trip in Washington, DC, I found what I wanted to fight for. Within that week I knew that I could somehow affect people’s lives in a positive way and decided to lend an open ear to young women no matter what the situation may be.

Now everything I do in college is allowing me to build a better foundation of knowledge and experience to help in building awareness about HIV/AIDS and other sexual health diseases. I am currently a peer educator for the University of South Florida where I give support to college students who have questions about sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, alcohol, drugs, self-esteem, date rape, and many other issues that about various topics and hopefully open their yes to sexual health information that may not have been taught in their high school or even within their homes. I joined MySistahs to be a peer educator to young minority women because I feel I can provide support. Like others, I grew up in a household where I could not really talk about sexual issues. I had many questions and was confused about a number of issues. Being a peer educator allows me to help those who grew up in similar situations and have not outlet. I also actively serve on the Leadership Board for the Center of Civic engagement and Volunteerism within my university. On the board I find volunteer sites for college students who want to do service in the community. I have volunteers for programs that support young women who are runaway mothers to doing street outreach for STI and HIV/AIDS prevention where we hand out condoms in minority communities to young adults. I am currently working for The AIDSInstitute Tampa where I am the Program Assistant to the Director of Education. The AIDSInstitute is a national public policy research, advocacy, and education agency. Working with the agency has given me more knowledge about advocacy and policy research for individuals infected with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis and how we can better educate communities about these diseases. I am also currently working to bring more service projects to the University of South Florida that deal with helping individuals with HIV/AIDS.

My goals and hope in life is to continue to be an activist and to continue to learn about health issues so I am able to help those individuals who ate often overlooked and hot heard. My vision is to bring awareness to youth, minorities, and women of color about the issue that seem to plague many of these communities. I am determined to live for something.

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