We The People Bio - Kim Smith

It was a hard decision for me to decide whether or not I wanted to be in this program. I had watched last year’s group perform and I loved what they did. I love this country, a feeling that was greatly instilled in me by my mom. She grew up in Argentina during the “Dirty war,” a time of a corrupt government and economic struggle, and has always told us how lucky we are to live in this country where we are free from oppression. The struggle for me was not that I wasn’t interested or that I was afraid of the work load, the greatest obstacle I had to overcome was myself.

See, I have always been a really shy person; any one that knows me can attest to it. It has always held me back when speaking in public and even talking to people in general. It is an ongoing internal battle. It’s not that I didn’t want to talk, it’s just that I always felt like I didn’t have anything worthwhile to say and when I did, I believed that no one would ever want to listen to me. I never bothered making an opinion about anything because I believed that no matter what I thought, I would always be wrong.

I decided to try it out, and I promised myself that if it didn’t work out those first couple days, I would leave. I felt so out of place that first day of school, sitting in that room the first day of class with some of the brightest kids in Sky View. It became even worse when we got our first set of questions. I seriously felt like I was reading another language. Each day of class was information overload and I left class each day wondering why I was even in there. Panic began to set in and I was ready to run, but I was tired of being afraid, so I took a leap and I decided that I was going to stay.

Joining “We the People” has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I absolutely love this program. I’ve made so many friends and learned so much, not just about our government and our country, but about myself too. I’m more confident and I’m learning to speak up and form my own opinion. It’s addicting when you can go up there before the judges and be able to have an intellectual conversation with them. I love the feeling you get when you can sit up there with your family by your side and know what you’re talking about, be able to back it up with evidence, building off each of your team members, getting stronger and stronger, and by the end of the six minutes, wish that you could stay up there all day.

I love everyone on this team. Everyone has been so wonderful to me and has welcomed me with open arms, despite the fact that I may be extremely quiet sometimes. They bear with me and have helped me grow so much these last couple months. I’m really grateful that we have the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. for nationals, not just so we can compete, but so we can stay together for another couple months. But I know that even if it was to end today, that these friendships we have made will last forever.