Gracie Rodes

My name is Gracie Rodes, I am a DLAB 2 student, and I intend to graduate in 2022. I have many passions and have been discovering more over this past year. My vision statement is “Live everyday to discover the beauty God created within me”. I have been feeling very inspired by poets in the past few weeks and very recently have fallen in love with words and poetry. Poetry has been a great way for me to express my feelings and learn how to be more vulnerable with people. My artifact is a poem I wrote this winter to express my love for all of the little things in life and to spread some positivity. To me, doing good can look many different ways, but one thing that always makes me feel like I am making a difference and disrupting for good is spreading joy and helping people feel seen, and loved. I love making people smile, and I love seeing what makes people happy and excited. I hope for my poem to positively impact people. Even if it only speaks to one person, my goal will be met. It feels real to me, and I want to show my perspective to others and hopefully expand their perspective. This poem represents my last few months because I have really found a new passion for poetry and have been learning what makes life so beautiful and special to me. It breaks my heart when people feel hopeless or can’t find reasons to smile. I want to help others feel their worth and validate that they are loved. I hope it inspires other people to find what makes life exciting for them and to fall in love with living.