When I was in middle school, I was asked to help my friend make a music video. I had no idea this video would end up getting over two hundred million views. I only appeared in the backseat of a car for 11 seconds of the 3-minute video, but when this video spread online like wildfire I became the target of millions of strangers’ comments. Before I knew it, people from around the world were calling me names like “awkward”, “stupid”, �...

I chose my school because it was in my gut. I visited the school and saw myself feeling prideful walking around campus. I wanted to be proud of my school. I wanted to feel at home at my school. And I wanted to...