Lexi Taylor

"I know what right is so it really doesn't matter what other people might think. I'd rather be regarded as weird than be like everyone else. I like the challenge, I do not mind swimming upstream." Lots of people tout this - Lexi Taylor lives it.

Lexi is a composition of choices; some very difficult. You would not guess this by looking at her. At first glance she appears to be a pretty young lady, 18 years old, very popular and very average. But if you are astute you will notice the small differences, the small choices that makes her anything but average. First, there is the way she dresses - modest, never compromising her values to be like her peers. Then it is the absence of things - you will not hear the swearing that is everyday language for the average high school student, pervasive even in the classroom.

You might ask, "how does this compare to the man with cancer, the guy who fights in the cage, the lady trying to overcome autism?" Overt fights are just that - fights. You know you're in it and you are forced to make a decision. Lexi's fight is the insidious kind. Slowly and sneakily, with all of the craft of a serpent, everything surrounding us chips away at our moral fiber. If you doubt the force and influence of the enemy look no further than your public high schools which has served as a home for Lexi in the last 4 years. The difficulty of her fight is that we never recognize it until we've lost it.

As you become more accustomed to Ms. Taylor, you will notice other benchmarks of the autonomy which she possesses. Her vantage point is always her own. It not the cliché attempt to be unique, nor is it the safe and conservative approach that so many of her classmates stand upon- it is Lexi, no more, no less. She will argue with anyone if she has a valid point to make- not simply to argue but because she sees truth clearly and is unafraid to share it.

"I am not going to be bent by the wind - I will be the wind." Lexi sadly notes that families are complacent today. They don't work hard to genuinely love each other and then hope it is enough to hold them together. She pledges that in her family she will be the glue. She will not allow the winds of time and change to erode what a family should truly be. "I like doing things that are tough, I am not easy-going."

"You should not be afraid to be that person on an island standing alone for what is right."

Lexi may be mistaken as a sweet and simple young lady, but there is so much more. From being one of the top of her class, to her aggressiveness on the soccer field, to her staunch stances in debate, and her unyielding attitude on principles if you peel away the surface levels you will find a fighter who will not bend to the whims of society.