Hello, my name is Terell Ray. I’m from the best borough in New York City, Queens. I’m currently a sophomore here at Buffalo State University majoring in Social Work. I am both very thankful and surprised to be nominated as a trailblazer within the EOP community. Coming into Buffalo State as a freshman I had many ups and downs during my first academic year. Being 300+ miles away from home at first, was something super exciting for me. Not only was I getting the opportunity to attend a school in a different area, I was also meeting many amazing people along the way. My first semester seemed to be a breeze because I had many easy courses starting out. In the second semester, I started to see myself struggle along the way. I experienced seasonal depression which caused me to slack with my classes and coursework. Instead of going to class and doing my work, I found myself in my room most of the time. As I was going through this rough patch, I knew at some point I would have to pull it together because this was not who I was as a student. Eventually, I motivated myself to get up and back on my grind. I finished my semester off well, working hard and keeping a high GPA. While at Buffalo State University, I’ve created success in my own way. One major success that I am proud of is becoming a peer mentor for freshmen EOP students, and being my natural authentic self, helped me achieve this. I have a passion for helping others and this opportunity allows me to give back. This experience has allowed me to show a deeper side of myself with the EOP staff and students and allowed me to create something that I see as a success.
A free thinker is defined as a person who could create their own thoughts and opinions. I feel like this term describes me because I am a person that is always thinking of how things work, solution to problems I am facing; I am a creative problem solver. I enjoy having the ability to think freely and, express my thoughts and now understand that this also plays a role in me being a community advocate that helps solve issues within the community.
