Asher is a high school senior from Boulder, CO. He enjoys theater, listening to music, and backpacking.
Meet Cultures of Dignity’s newest intern!
Cultures of Dignity: Tell us a little about yourself!
Asher: I’m a high school senior at Dawson School. I’m originally from Washington D.C. but I’ve lived in Boulder for the past 12 years. I love theater, as it gives me an opportunity to explore different kinds of characters and personalities and act them out. I’ve been in at least one show every year for the past 5 years. I love listening to music and watching TV, which can keep me in my house a little too often, but I still love being in the outdoors, especially going backpacking. I’m going to Wesleyan University this fall and I’m undecided on my major, but interested in studying psychology.
Cultures of Dignity: Why are you working with Cultures of Dignity this summer?
Asher: Dawson has a project for seniors at the end of the year in order to graduate. All seniors must work 70 hours over two weeks in a field that they are passionate or interested in learning about. My goal is to be able to work in something in the therapy/counseling field once I graduate college, and I wanted a project that would allow me to actively participate in thinking about these topics, which brought me to Cultures of Dignity!
Cultures of Dignity: If you could have any superpower what would it be?
Asher: I would have the power of instant teleportation. There are few things I hate more than getting stuck in traffic, and teleportation would present a very easy solution to that problem. To be anywhere I wanted instantly would also really help in letting me sleep in as much as possible, as I wouldn’t have to worry about any commute to work or school.
Cultures of Dignity: What projects will you be working on with CoD?
Asher: I will be working on helping revise the Owning Up curriculum, shadowing the teaching of Owning Up at Casey Middle School, helping manage social media, and writing my own research paper on a topic of my personal choice.
Cultures of Dignity: What is an issue you see in schools you want to fix?
Asher: I really want to work on the stigma that sits around mental health issues in schools. People tend to have a basic understanding and knowledge of these issues, especially depression and anxiety, but it is still a very uncomfortable thing for many people to even just check in on a friend who may not be doing well. When things escalate to more serious issues, such as self-harming, suicidal thoughts, or panic attacks, more people tend to not know how to handle and treat these, or are so uncomfortable that they just avoid confronting these issues at all, be it personally or with a friend or acquaintance.
Learn about how we work with young people:
