I've talked before about how I mentor a robotics team at a small local school. When I say "small," I mean the graduating class last year was 9 students.

One of those who graduated was the main engineer on the team, a good kid. When I first met him about 4 years ago, he was a typical rural boy. I think the first interaction I had with him was to talk to him about using the R-word.

I also remember his wide eyed confusion when he first saw my husband, who looks like a scary tattooed biker and not the stereotypical gay man. "Wait, *that's* your husband?!"

Robotics has an extremely inclusive and diverse culture, and I literally watched this kid "wake up" in real time.

This past year, he became a leader on the team. He helped me stand up for our trans student against a phobic teacher (and got all his jock buddies to give the teacher a hard time all throughout the year).
I remember on the last day of our robotics competition, he slept in and arrived late, and we had to get a photo done right away for the newspaper. So he rushed to the trans boy and asked him to help fix his hair quick in the bathroom.

He once sat quietly with one of our autistic students for an hour after a meeting ended because they were having a meltdown, then drove them home. He takes care of his disabled mother, and spent his 18th birthday taking her around town and partying with her. Just an all around great guy.

And so when he saw that this old bigoted asshole was running for school board, he put his name in. His very first time voting in an election and his own name was on the ballot.

And fam, he won!

This 18 year old kid is now on the board of the school he just graduated, ousting the local Big Name family that has held a majority for the last 15 years. I'm so fucking proud!

Working with teenagers is difficult, and sometimes I ask myself why the heck I'm doing this for free. But it's times like these where I can see the impact I'm making just by being visibly out, and encouraging kids to be compassionate to each other.