I want to start off this article by thanking all of my friends, family, classmates and even the random people who have reached out to me since my article was released last week. It meant so much to me to hear your encouraging words, and to feel the love from so many. And to anyone who read my article and shared it to help spread my message of hope, you made sharing my story worth it.

This week I was excited to write about something current: the heartbreaking events that are currently happening in Aleppo, the city in Syria. However, as the week went on and I considered how I wanted to write about it, I found myself compelled to write about my article from last week, almost like a part two.

In my article, I wrote about how one of the worst feelings I experienced after my rape was feeling that I was completely alone, that I had no one to understand me. After my article, I was approached by friends, people I go to school with, and people I had never even met to tell me that my article was something all too familiar to them, that they were survivors too. As heartwarming as it was to be reminded that there are people out there who understand all my feelings and are there for me to talk to, it also broke my heart.

As much as I craved someone who understood where I was coming from, it was also upsetting to think that there were so many people in my life who had a piece of themselves taken from them. And the more upset I got, the more I found myself getting angry. I started doing research on what the actual statistics of sexual assault and rape are. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network , or RAINN, a sexual assault occurs every 98 seconds in America, and two out of three sexual assaults will go unreported.

The statistics I was finding were absolutely horrifying. And it made me want to take action. I've spent the last few days racking my brain to decide what I could possibly do to help what I consider to be one of the darkest parts of humanity. What could I possibly do to help as many rape victims as possible in my lifetime?

I found my answer in my major. As an applied legal studies major, I have aspired to be a lawyer for quite a few years now. I've always been interested in the law, and, currently, have my major focused in family law. I never thought I would be strong enough to be a criminal law lawyer, but I realized that through my own experience I could find strength. I can be these survivors advocates in the courtroom, I can be there for them when it's time to face their attacker, I can do my best to fight for the justice that they deserve.

Although I am only one person, and it's hard to imagine that I will ever be able to help every survivor out there, or that I'll ever be able to end rape and sexual assault completely, it makes me feel like I am taking a step forward in my life by deciding to dedicate my life to helping survivors reach justice. I encourage everyone, even if you don't have your own personal connection like I do, to find your own ways to help end this epidemic.