I have felt authentically myself for the first time in my life."

beautiful, meaningful experience. I have come to treasure who I was when I was closeted and who I have become.

At Northwestern, I have felt authentically myself for the first time in my life. I have not felt pressured to lie and section off parts of my identity. I am grateful for the community I have found who accepts me.

Sudmann cited a similar feeling of acceptance. He’s from Malibu, California, and transferred to Northwestern from the University of Virginia because the UVA campus felt much less accepting than what he was used to. He feels much more at home at Northwestern.

“I'm feeling great about who I am. I don't think I've ever been more confident in my identity as I am here,” he says. “I'm surrounded by so many people who support me — it doesn't feel like [my identity] is different here. I don’t feel like I’m standing out.”

Zawadzki shares that sentiment: “It's also freeing because you can really be androgynous. You can be feminine, you can be masculine, and there are always people who hype you up.”

I am grateful for the spaces I’ve found and the people I’ve met. The middle school version of me would not fathom a world where I talk openly about my desperate need for a boyfriend and the celebrity crush I have on Paul Mescal. The conversations that straight, cisgender people have without a second thought are things that have taken me years to get the confidence to say.

I am happy with where I am, though I still have work to do. For so long I felt I had to prove my masculinity because of my queerness. Whether through my style or through my behaviors, I felt I had to overcompensate to be a man. Now I have a better understanding of my own masculinity and am ready to embrace styles that reflect it. I want my gayness to be seen by my community and the world, a feeling that Zawadzki echoed.

“People can always tell I'm queer. I'm glad that people catch on. It's nice to be able to be seen by your community and to see others in your community,” she says.

I am excited to see where my personal style goes from here. I want to lean into the absurd and wacky, but more importantly, I want to express who I am at my core. Throughout my life, clothes have protected and empowered me. The clothes I have worn tell the story of my life better than I ever could.

As an adolescent, I was too scared to wear what I wanted. I feared judgment and did not want to stand out. Now, I embrace how powerful I feel in clothing. I wear my long wool coat when I want to feel assertive, or I opt for my slouchy blue jeans to recall my LA roots. I choose clothes that make me feel confident.

On fashion, Sudmann says, “That's my little way of standing up for who I am.”