While principals are intercessors on a broader, systemic scale - teachers are immediate intercessors and are pivotal in initial student support and encouragement. Teachers are in the unique position to ensure that students not only feel seen but also play a crucial part in shaping students' minds. Even as adults, we can look back and remember how a particular teacher made us feel. What’s interesting about teachers is that they are well known for being underpaid and under-appreciated - which is a part of those systemic barriers that we often speak of. We here at (OTO) would like teachers to understand your impact transcends the individual moments in the classroom.

For nearly a decade, Oliver North has provided his expertise. His initiatives have centered around his experience with child maltreatment, particularly in the realm of neglect and homelessness due to being a child of parents who struggled with drug addiction—going from five foster homes before the age of 6 to Experiencing Homelessness after his apartment burned down. Being an unaccompanied youth during his high school years is a topic that is near and dear to our organization. While his experiences have built the framework of what Only Thoughts of Ownership are today, these are not experiences, circumstances, or feelings that we want children to experience. Oliver, whose birthday is also in April, does what he can, whether through the OK2D tour, BVO-YOU, or The Passion Tape, to advocate for children who go through, unbeknownst to many people, not just poverty and adversity but abuse.

This is a love letter to you. And when I say love, I refer to you and the love of words, whether spoken or written. As a child, you are often told you do not know what you are talking about. In reality, childhood has a purity and wisdom that adulthood tends to wash away (if you let it). Often enough, if you talk a lot as a child, you probably have a lot to offer as a writer, and if you journal, you are already using the written word to speak for you.