I’m Juliette. I grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts where I attended Catholic school from age 4-18. I played soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and softball at varying points but mainly focused on soccer and basketball. I lived with my mom and dad and my sister who is three years older than me and over the course of my 19 years of life I’ve had five dogs (all some part Labradors).

Anyone who knows me knows that sports have been a large part of my life. My parents raised my sister and I as athletes and always expected us to give us our absolute best. Weekends were dedicated to tournaments and away games. My dad coached me in basketball for most of my career.

There was this one time, I must have been around age 12, and I had stolen the ball on defense and was dribbling down the court to complete the fast-break layup and somehow I forgot to shoot and I just ran straight out of bounds. Certainly not my finest moment, but a moment I’ll never forget nevertheless.

When I was even younger, age 4 or 5, and I was still playing the adorable little 3v3 soccer games where the kids run around wildly chasing the ball with no order whatsoever, which I had a habit of, I would run over to my dad and he would swing me around whenever I scored. I think the saddest moment of my childhood was when I started playing more competitive soccer and my dad told me I could no longer run to him for a celebration after my goals.

My dogs have also been a huge part of my life and I am incredibly grateful to have been raised with automatic best friends. The five animals I have had over my 19 years have been loving, beautiful, and just the best. They’ve come to my soccer games, greeted me at the door, slept with me, and run into my arms countless times. They’ve been on family vacations and become an integral part of our family.

OH! I forgot to mention, I’m conservative.

I am so much more than the label you put on me for being a conservative and your labels probably aren’t even accurate for me!

I’ve lately been seeing many people make rash judgments about a person based on their political beliefs. I even witnessed a professor at my university say she would not entertain the beliefs of a Trump supporter in her classroom because that person must be inherently racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and a lot of other –ics. I heard another student talk about how she refused to even engage in a conversation with a Trump supporter. I’ve seen people on my social media feeds say that anyone who voted Trump is a bad person, end of story.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: your labels do not define me. I am a conservative because it’s what I believe and although you are free to think whatever you please about me, try to get to know me and see what our different beliefs can teach each other before you decide you know who I am.