Annika struggled with a disability and though she wanted to go to college, she began to question if she belonged there after a teacher told her she “wouldn’t succeed in life.” In her story she is encouraging students to be “uniquely themselves."

Cameron questioned if he belonged in college because of his disability. But now Cameron is urging other students dealing with autism to be strong and fight for their dreams because, “We belong in college just like our typical peers.”

Abdullah has always felt like an outsider due to his stutter. People at school would make fun of him relentlessly. He started to feel that college might not be for him. But with encouragement from his family, he realized that he belongs in college and now he’s working to inspire other students with disabilities to believe that they belong there too!

Eli deals with a rare bleeding disorder that affects every single moment of his life and often makes it hard to focus on academics. Despite all of this, he chooses to be positive. In his story he shares how “through struggle we persist.”