SAMANTHA SPOTO

Everyone is different, on the outside, but honestly, on the inside, were pretty much all the same. Same emotions, some connections, all people of the same world. When I see someone who is being judged or persecuted, I think to myself “Are they really all that different? What makes them the outsiders?” Growing up, I’ve always been told to never judge someone or think you know them until you have walked a mile in their shoes. With my family being Sicilian, I constantly get the weird-face, one-eyebrow-up glare when people learn that I’m Italian. “ooh…you’re Italian?” Ya, so what? How does that make me any different than you? What makes me any different than anyone else other than where my family came from. Everyone came from somewhere.

All my family was raised Catholic, in Italy and America. My sister and I along with most of our cousins, have almost always attended Catholic school. However, a Religion based school environment doesn’t protect you from persecution. In fact it only makes you more vulnerable. There’s many times where, even in a Catholic school, I can easily relate to situations where I or other people have been persecuted for being close to your own religion. With such a small campus of less than 500 students, it can easily divide the campus. This Catholic Italian girl doesn’t always have it easy, but I’m proud of who I am.

I’m normally the kind of person people would say is always optimistic, I try to keep in mind that everything happens for a reason and that you should always try to make something good out of a bad situation. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Its corny but its true. I always think its important to hear people out and be open to everyone’s opinions, because everyone wants to be heard.

I learned about Project Shattering Silence back when it was still called simply a “Project” yet to be considered. When it officially began, I honestly didn’t really know what to expect. Working with Jared in the past, I knew he had something good planned, the man obviously knew what he was doing. Throughout the time my group has been working on this, I have seen different points of views and heard amazing stories about everyone’s background. But like we have all said, we’re really not that different. We’re a group of very different teenagers coming together for the same purpose. Together we can create something amazing.