Now as we all know, this has been a presidential campaign for the history books (if there will be any history books left after it). As a first-time voter and a young millennial just wishing to see some change in an unjust world, there are countless reasons why I have now decided to vote for Hillary Clinton in the fall this coming year; however, I did not always think that she would be our best way to these changes. Now I see that she is not the end-game to this change. Her presidency will be used as a stepping stone meant to push us further to the true heart and soul of this great nation I call home.

Now, I'm going to be frank-for the longest time I didn't believe Hillary would be a good president. I had been feeling the Bern for Bernie Sanders since I first heard about him last year, and have avidly followed and supported him until he endorsed Hillary for president. After that, I felt lost. I felt as though I was abandoned in a crucial time by the one man who could fix so many things wrong in this country, like the crippling debt college loans were going to be putting on me and all of my friends, the injustice that plagues our criminal justice system, the income gap between the middle and upper classes, LGBT equality and so many more. Without Bernie Sanders in the race anymore, I felt as though it would be my duty as a voter to just do what many do -- choose the lesser of two evils. I readied myself to vote for Hillary this coming November, simply because I knew that having Donald Trump as the Commander-in-Chief of this nation would lead us into a terrible future of retroactive "progress".

Then the DNC began. Michelle's speech highlighted a fact that I hadn't entirely thought of:

See, I trust Hillary to lead this country because I’ve seen her lifelong devotion to our nation’s children –- not just her own daughter, who she has raised to perfection but every child who needs a champion: Kids who take the long way to school to avoid the gangs. Kids who wonder how they’ll ever afford college. Kids whose parents don’t speak a word of English but dream of a better life. Kids who look to us to determine who and what they can be.
- Michelle Obama, Democratic National Convention 2016.

After this moment, I began to realize that Hillary was the new champion of my cause. Like in President Obama's speech about passing the baton on to Hillary, I do not think that Bernie has left his supports behind as so many others do. Bernie Sanders emboldened the millennials to get out into the streets, make our voices heard and our votes count. That is something that I think we can never truly thank him enough for; however, his fight didn't end when he endorsed Hillary Clinton. The baton that Bernie carried has been passed on to Hillary Clinton, and after her speech at the DNC, I believe that while she may not be the perfect president for our country (but let's face it, we'll never have a perfect president. I'm not entirely sure if the point of a democracy is to have one perfect person call all the shots, after all), she is the one we need right now.

Hillary Clinton has fought for people with disabilities to be able to go to school, and plans to actively fight for the rights of people with disabilities so we can have access to the same employment as many other American citizens already have access to. I say we because I am considered a disabled American. In February of 2012, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and have since been protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. When I turned 16 and was legally allowed to work in my state, my mother would tell me not to check the box that says I am disabled, even though right above that checkbox it lists Diabetes as a disability. She told me this because discrimination based on that checkbox is happening in the world. I have avoided that box and dreaded that box every time I go to apply to jobs, because I'm always afraid of being marginalized because I have to say I'm disabled. Hillary will be working to make the job search more beneficial to me, and I might be able to get better work because of it.

Not only is Hillary Clinton fighting for me on that front, but she is fighting on the LGBT front as well. Now, an argument that I will readily admit that even I used against Hillary Clinton is that she only just now began to support the LGBT community, and that she has not always been a supporter. I was naïve to think that was a viable justification to denounce her as a candidate for our President. There have been plenty of LGBT advocates who were on the other side of this issue and believed it to be a sin or an affront to nature (Hillary never was that extreme) and are now our strongest allies. What the LGBT community doesn't need are people who believe that it's okay from the get-go (while that's a great thing for us to have); we need people understanding, learning and accepting us for who we are, and joining us in our fight for our rights.

Hillary Clinton's speech Thursday at the DNC moved me in ways I don't think I've been moved before. She truly inspired me, and made me confident in voting for her as my next President of the United States, because she understands that the fight she is fighting isn't intended for her. She is fighting for us-- the millennials. She isn't perfect, but she acknowledges that, and understands that it takes a village to foster a community. At the end of her own speech, she acknowledged the Tony-winning musical, "Hamilton", by saying:

"and though 'we may not live to see the glory,' as the song from the musical Hamilton goes, 'let us gladly join the fight.' Let our legacy be about 'planting seeds in a garden you never get to see'". - Hillary Clinton, Democratic National Convention 2016.

So to Hillary Clinton, my new champion, I have some parting words from the same great musical.

"Raise a glass to freedom."