Samara Timm

pronouns: any pronouns

My name is Samara Timm. When I started with Empower Montana through Youth Forward, our program for LGBTQ+ high schoolers, I was in a deep depression and had horrible anxiety. Going to Youth Forward and trying to talk to people who really understood me started to slowly lessen my anxiety. It was gradual, but it was changing. And then last year, I was asked to be a co-facilitator for Be You Crew, a program for elementary and middle school LGBTQ+ youth and their allies. I think that’s when I started to come out of my shell more. Watching those youth, who were so in touch with what they knew and what they needed, made me feel empowered with what I needed. It also made me reflect on the need for EmpowerMT programs. Too many of us are facing discrimination especially in our schools, but we can change it. I believe that all of us have hopes for Montana. We hope for an end to that oppression and discrimination so many suffer on a daily basis. We hope for more empathy, inclusion, kindness, and compassion. We recognize the importance of raising up marginalized voices, especially the voices of Indigenous, Black, and gender non-binary folks, particularly when those voices and experiences come from our youth who are marginalized and oppressed. These are lofty hopes for the future and they will take some time but we can do it if we work together to bring our trainings to more Montanans and foster that kindness, empathy, and inclusion that is so needed in our world today.