My Time to Come with Technology Nikkie Karimian

6,876 miles. This might be a hard distance to measure, so let me help you understand how far it is and just what it has entailed. It’s not only how far I’ve travelled almost every summer to see my family, but it’s how far I’ve travelled to become who I am today. Traveling this distance has elevated my global awareness and sparked my future pursuits.

Going to Iran as a 7-year-old was much different than going as a 17-year-old. At 17, I took a closer look on how women had to sit at the end of the bus. Further, I began to see inequity in places of leisure. I wasn’t focused on building a sandcastle anymore, but took note how there was a big tarp stretched out into the ocean to separate the girls from the boys. Not only were men and women separated physically, they were isolated socially too. Married women can not leave the country without the written consent of their husband. Women have been sent to jail immediately if they speak out on women’s rights. I began to see inequity that I had never even considered before nor thought about just exactly what it meant.

Coming back to North Carolina was always a big relief. Not just the type of relief you get when you’re finally back in your own bed after a vacation. A relief that made me...