The University of Central Missouri is in the middle of nowhere in the small town of Warrensburg, Missouri, just an hour east of Kansas City. You wouldn't think that the famous Youtuber, Tyler Oakley, would come to a small town of less than 14,000 in Missouri for a college like UCM. He has been on Ellen, countless red carpets, and has millions of followers on all forms of social media so why would he come here? To be a part of unity week on campus.
UCM has numerous different kinds of people show up throughout the year. Normally we have one big band come in (this year was 3OH!3) that was popular at one point or another and several other performances like magicians and comedians that come during weeks such as Week of Welcome and Unity Week. Tyler Oakley came on February 16, 2107 to be apart of UCM's "Unity Week". The idea behind it was to educate, celebrate, and unite people for our diversity throughout campus with different activities and events. With a lot of current unrest with diversity, especially when applied to race and the LGBTQ community, it can be refreshing to see a campus start to come together for a common cause.
Tyler Oakley came that night to answers questions, some of which were pre-planned while others were ones given by the audience. Throughout the night, he often mentioned about having a voice and being loud about it. He highly voiced his opinion on subjects he felt strongly about like Hillary Clinton's campaign last fall and the Trevor Project throughout the years. He talked about really trying to make a change, especially when you know there are people out there that are hearing you. Even if it's only one person hearing you. One person can spread the word to another, and another, and another and before you know it, millions of people know. He spread word as much as he could and if the results he wanted didn't happen, he knew he tried his best and did all he could.
Tyler Oakley reminded me as a current college student to keep trying. To many there, they felt like they could be heard if they were having an issue with diversity to be more specific. I felt like I may not always succeed in getting that A or reaching all of my goals in life, but I know that I work as hard as I can everyday and that is all I can ever ask of myself. I voice my opinion when I'm strongly opinionated on something and the worst that can happen is it not going my way. I voiced my opinion though, giving myself the chance to be heard. We have to start voicing our opinions if anything is to ever change.
The next time you think you should give up or that you feel like your voice doesn't matter, remember that everybody has had their failures and you can't always win. But that should never stop you from continuing to try on any issue you see present and needs to be adressed.
