On November 12, six students were fortunate enough to sit down and enjoy lunch with Paige Rawl in our Learning Resource Center after submitting a piece of work inspired by Positive, Rawl’s book.

The six lucky winners were Ben Miller (poem), Aaliyah Crave ( painting), Joe Storti ( poem), Megan Atherton and Odete Garmute (essays).

Craven was eager to share her experience. She said, “If I would choose one word to describe the experience I would choose eye opening. I chose this word because I realized bad things may happen to good people but the best people are the ones who make it out.”

Craven was truly inspired by Rawl book and life story, as where many other students who had the pleasure of personally speaking to her.

Craven also said, “Paige has offered me a new perspective on life. Before I read her book I knew it was bad to tease people just because they were different, but her book really showed me how people can show so much hatred towards an innocent person. Why would we hurt our own kind? In the end we all have to stick together and take care of each other.”

Rawl’s book has inspired many pieces of work, including Craven’s. Craven indicated that her piece of work was inspired by the theme of never losing “hope in a lonely world”.

After the lunch with Rawl, Craven has decided to live her life differently. She said, “I plan to be friendly to anyone even if they have done something dishonorable, because you don’t know what they are going through or their past.”

Craven was quick to add something at the end. She said, “The lunch was wonderful; Rawl was a very respectable person. I couldn’t stop smiling knowing what she had overcome and that she was here to tell her story.”