After completing research in my first year as a Laidlaw Scholar, which focused on women's trajectories into organized white extremism, I became inspired to construct a LiA project that responds directly to my findings. From the digital ethnography that I conducted of an online white supremacist forum, I discerned that a loss of bodily autonomy kickstarts a very specific pathway a portion of women follow toward organized white extremism. It was fitting to then base my LiA project on protecting bodily autonomy. I chose to spend my LiA working with the Center for Empowerment in Middlesex County, NJ. The center is involved in crisis response for survivors of sexual violence, prevention education on this topic, and longer-term counseling for clientele. 

I was excited when the Center approved my application and set up a 40 hour training schedule for me so I could serve as an advocate for survivors of sexual violence. This role involves reporting to police stations and hospitals to inform survivors of sexual violence of their rights and which pathways they may choose to take, support their choices and guide them, ensure that staff properly follow protocol, and provide wider emotional support for survivors. I braced myself for the emotional intensity of this role and began researching ahead of my training. Unfortunately, shortly before my training was set to begin, one of the supervisors involved had to leave the office for a few weeks due to an emergency. My training needed to be postponed, which set back my schedule—I was no longer able to complete this project before school started. 

This dilemma was one of the worst-case scenarios that I considered at the beginning of the summer, but didn't spend too much time planning for—I didn't think it would actually happen that my planned project would not plan out. I reached out to my immediate supervisor asking if there was another role I could fill for the Center. I met with her twice and she talked me through different projects that I could help out with. During this time, I became more familiarized with the Center. In our second conversation considering alternative plans, I ended up sharing with her that I had helped facilitate a "zine" in high school for female students to express their frustrations with school environment. I mentioned that the most popular theme was disappointment with how the school responds to disclosures of sexual violence. The supervisor suggested that I could spearhead creating a toolkit that schools can use to advise on response plans for disclosures of sexual violence, as well as relevant lesson plans for teachers and tips on how to prepare staff for these difficult conversations. Shortly after, she set me up with a staff member who I could work under and who could guide me through this project. 

Even though I was able to salvage my project, as I started working on this new initiative at the Center, I wasn't always sure it would work out. I had already begun researching other organizations in the area and even started volunteering at a social service center in case I wouldn't be able to have a role at the Center. Despite the stress this conflict caused me, I ended up being grateful for my slight change of plans. I learned not to abandon my passions and wound up getting to spearhead a project, two entities that bolstered my sense of leadership.