On the Ann Arbor Slam stage, Carolyn performed poignantly about the death of her grandmother and the value of getting to know people across social divides. She is an accomplished dancer and a community activist in the groups Peace Jam and Students Educating Each other about Diversity (SEED). Giving back is important to Carolyn. "I do consider myself privileged and I have a lot of guilt about that," she says. "There's a whole concept of white guilt. If you sit on top of privilege and do nothing, it's wasted. But if you use privilege to benefit other people, then that's what matters."

As for her entree into spoken word and poetry slams, Carolyn says, "I've been writing since I was little. But I [never] really developed this poetry part of me until this year, taking Jeff Kass's creative writing class. Incidents in my life that have changed me definitely come out in my writing [because] it's how I express myself."

Carolyn is one of the most vocal proponents of social change in her school community. With the support of her team and coach, she is bringing her perspective as a young woman in America to the Brave New Voices festival in Washington, DC.