“I started Shine in Play at the beginning of my sophomore year. My little brother who is ten years younger [than I am] has autism, so I always observed how much he wanted to make friends, but how hard it could be sometimes. Recognizing this gap, I realized that when I was there for him as a more mature presence, I helped him significantly. With that in mind, I began Shine in Play to organize meetups for young children on the autism spectrum with a proportionate amount of teenage volunteers–mainly my peers from school–to interact and organize activities and arts and crafts.
Right now, we are diversifying from classic playground meetups to doing things like going bowling and, most recently, trick or treating. I try to have meetups once a month, but in the future it is my goal to not only keep the organization going after I graduate, but to also be more consistent with it. My favorite part about it is the meetups, they are a lot of fun and full of laughs every time, and feedback from parents have always brought me a lot of joy.”
