 I recently graduated from Franklin High School, the class of 21, and I will be attending Howard University this coming fall. I want to talk a little bit about arts learning and how it is a direct form of anti-racist work and self-care specifically for youth of color. During my junior year, right before we went to virtual learning for COVID, I was really struggling mentally. I was having a really hard time and I couldn't really figure out how to help myself. My director at school had asked me if I was doing anything artistic, if I was doing theater, theater, if I was singing, if I was expressing in some way, and my answer at the time was no. From this conversation, it helped me realize and reflect on how arts and creativity and different communities that encourage that and spaces have helped me grow and helped me mentally stay and really helped me become the person that I am today. Thinking about the academic spaces that I was part of at Franklin and the classes and activities that encourage forms of expression, specifically among youth of color and community with each other, those spaces have been extremely transformative for me and the other people that I was in those spaces with. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the ways that we continue to influence the arts into our academic spaces and how we can increase funding and support and really get into the city and find ways to find the ways that arts and creativity weave into our development as students and as young people in general, because it absolutely is a vital part of learning and being a person. Thank you.