My name is Jasmine Infante and I am a student at the University of St. Thomas majoring in communication and minoring in marketing. I wanted to give a huge thank you to the Holocaust Remembrance Association for the scholarship I have received. I was told about this scholarship by my advisor, Dr. Bornigia and I researched it after speaking with her. I never knew about this association until she introduced it to me and I hope to attend a live event next year. Even though the events were held online due to Covid-19, it was still an enlightening experience. I feel like I not only learned about the struggles that affect generations of people, but I learned more about myself in the process, too. This scholarship will help me financially to achieve my academic goals, but it will also help me achieve my future goals. I have always used my voice and my social media to help advocate for nonprofits fighting against human trafficking, such as Elijah Rising.

This experience illuminated a passion within me to broaden the audience I advocate for. I learned from the stories and memories shared during your live events and hope to continue sharing to the world. Even though I cannot speak firsthand, everything is worth sharing because every voice counts. The Holocaust Remembrance Association advocates for the healing of victims and for the healing of the world. That is what resonated with me the most and I want to take part in that as much as I can. As I said in my essay, I choose not to sit in silence, but to teach and learn from others to grow as a community. It is thanks to the March of Remembrance that I have learned only through recognition of the feelings of others can we truly grasp how to move forward. Thank you for the opportunity to continue my education with one less burden on my shoulders, but most importantly, thank you for helping me find another voice within me that yearns to help people.