“I agree that youth voice matters. It’s important to put ourselves out there to fight the bullies,” read a note sent to me from a NYC high school student about an article I'd written for Youth Communication. My article gave a voice to recently vilified transgender individuals who were unfairly prohibited from serving in the military by their government, an important issue to me as a young LGBT person.I look to writing as the most effective tool to reach others and create positive political change. There's a certain creativity involved with stringing words together to forward a message or idea, kind of like the creativity harnessed in prose or poetry. This creativity guides me as I write about personally meaningful topics, like indigenous and immigrant justice, equitable voting rights, and election security. I look to this key memory as I explore my interests in research-oriented political advocacy and public service law. It solidified my passion for combining writing and politics; and made me realize that political writing yields personal, tangible effects.Check out some of my features and my blog here: https://atlcastroasmussen.weebly.com/