My name is Parker van Dyk and I have lived in Los Angeles my whole life with my parents and younger brother Carson.  I’m like most other teens my age: I love Shawn Mendes, hate homework, and stay up late watching my favorite YouTubers, Dan & Phil.  But one thing makes me very different from […]

My twin brother Jack has autism. Autism is a developmental disability and it affects people in varying degrees. No matter how much a person is affected, there are challenges. Challenges may include dealing with loud noises, crowds, and communicating with people, to name a few. We can’t stop the noise in our world, for example, […]

Having a sibling with a disability not only changes your life but also changes you as a person. I know that I would not be the person I am today without my brother, Oliver. My brother Oliver has a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy called Rigid Spine Muscular Dystrophy. RSMD has only 70 known cases […]

My brother, Scott, has a severe version of Cerebral Palsy. As a result, Scott cannot walk, and requires a wheelchair for mobility. Unfortunately, there are many other families that are affected by this disorder.   Throughout Scott’s life, he has gone to schools that specialize in education for kids with severe disabilities. His most recent […]

My life has been very unique. Lots of people have siblings, but mine is really special. When my sister Jordan was born, I was kind of caught off guard. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited about having a sibling, but Jordan was born with only one hand, Which to me, a three-year-old was very […]

With their crisp white tennis shoes stuck out in front of them, the girls in Mrs. Daley’s kindergarten class set out to conquer that morning’s task: tying their shoelaces. Chloe, the only little girl in the room with jet-black hair and warm yellow undertones to her skin, struggled to keep hold of her bunny ears. […]

I was around eight years old when something as simple as a Girl Scout campfire made me feel different than other girls. Looking back it was not such a stressful situation, but at the time, it was unbearable. From a very young age I have always had anxiety. Before the big campfire, the very first […]

The cool wind was harsh but refreshing across my face as I climbed to the top, 1,488 feet above the ground. As I took my last step onto the top I suddenly heard cheering and applause that shocked my ears after three hours of rigorous climbing in silence. Look at the view. Look how far […]

I’m kind of a big nerd. I mean, I do spend many hours after school working on homework that won’t necessarily be checked, and make it a regular activity to bug my teachers on anything I don’t understand. I will often even finish research papers several months before they are due. This probably sounds crazy, […]

For most of my life, kids I have met must assume I have everything. I make friends easily, naturally excel at sports and earn good grades. When I entered High School, most of the other 9th grade students were nervously and understandably trying to adjust. However, I already felt confident. Having begun playing hockey when […]

Sometimes things require extra effort for me…or at least that’s what I have told myself.  And I must admit this is something I’ve always been a little bitter about. When I was younger, I couldn’t help but wonder why other kids on my sports team seem to have an easier time than I did? It […]

Check out RBC Flaunt It Award finalist Marica James incredible video titled  Gray  ! “In life everyone has internal struggles and occasionally it seems like things are only two-sided – that an outcome can only go one of two ways. There’s a good and a bad, a winner and a loser, progressing and regressing, and often we […]

Sometimes I felt like the anniversary of Pearl Harbor was like a second birthday, and a terrible one at that. You know those birthdays that you know you should be happy, but your mom made you invite all of your seventeen annoying baby cousins? And you’re dreading it because you know you’ll be spending your […]

“This piece represents the hardships that I have endured in my life. The textures, found objects, spray paint and even the glitter offer a glimpse into who I am as a girl becoming a woman. The world has shown me pain and neglect from my alcoholic mother, which is represented by the nails as I […]

I was already eight, but I still had no words. One winter in second grade, nai nai and gong gong visited us. As they stepped through the door to leave, my father gave me a quick glance, raising his eyebrows and nudging his head toward my Chinese grandparents. But there was nothing for me to […]