Slowly but surely, as long as people like you and me stand up for what we believe in, we can move towards a better place.

Rikki is a peer educator with YouthResource.

Hello my name is Rikki, I got involved with Advocates for Youth because I wanted to be a better resource for my campus. We had no official LGBT Center and I inherited the mock LGBT Center, which was just a student office managed by a small group of students. I had no clue what a resource center should look like. Then I found Advocates for Youth, specifically Youth Resource. My life changed. I started tuning in to some of the greater issues, which in this case included activism as a lifelong practice to make something better.

I started falling in love with the idea that, my voice could create change and this organization (Advocates for Youth) was here to help me. Activism is important because it is the only way to create change, when I repeatedly stand up for what I believe in, for example equal human rights or the right to know about your own sexual reproductive health, I create awareness and through that awareness others tune in, like I did. This is a beautiful phenomenon, especially when many people are involved.

I am still involved as an active citizen because I feel this is the only way to remain knowledgeable and the only way to hold Politician and the Government accountable. Not to mention that not everyone is equal. Slowly but surely, as long as people like you and me stand up for what we believe in, we can move towards a better place. Activism can be simple; I learned that through watching the amazing people I have met at Advocates for Youth. Use your voice!