“I am going to be honest with you, I do not see you walking up on that stage and graduating from high school.” Those were the words of my 8th-grade teacher, Mrs. Smallsy. If you don’t know me, I have severe Dyslexia which makes reading extremely challenging. But the words of this teacher stuck with me, and when I heard those words, to be honest, I believed them. But I used those words to motivate me to prove her and everyone wrong. My parents have been advocates for me all along, and once I arrived at Fortune Academy, I found a whole group of teachers who supported me. They helped me figure out what accommodations I needed and how to use those accommodations and helped me learn to navigate on my own by advocating for myself. My parents, my teachers, family, and friends, because of you, I am happy to be standing here on stage tonight, a graduate of Fortune Academy