I am Olivia Dimatteo and I identify as a female going by she and her pronouns. I am a senior Communication major and English minor from Fort Mill, S.C.

When I was first presented with this project, I was excited for an opportunity to work on something that was more than just a letter grade- in fact, it would be something that would outlive me. My favorite concept within writing and publishing, is that it is eternal. I knew these stories had the potential to become history, to live on forever. As we continued working, this became more evident as the stories came to life, demonstrating beauty and power like I had never experienced. It has been truly incredible to learn and grow from each person within the project- whether it be interviewee, co-worker, design team, etc. Growing throughout the process, I faced more self confrontation and recognition than I had originally imagined. With that, this experience has shown me a side of humanity that will forever be demonstrated through our work and I couldn’t be more proud.