Fueled by a belief in justice and passion for equality, 17-year-old Faythe Miller has dedicated her professional life to the defense of the oppressed and misfortunate.
Miller will be starting her senior year at Edmond North High School as editor-in-chief after three years on staff at her high school newspaper. A journalist by trade and a social justice warrior by heart, Miller believes that a journalism degree will provide a necessary foundation for her eventual law career.
Miller hopes that by learning how to accurately tell the stories of the people she will represent, she will be able to approach their cases from a place of understanding.
“In the future, I hope I will be doing work for someone who needs it and needs my voice to share their story, to give them their life and their rights back, and I hope I can further the causes of progress and equality for everyone,” Miller says.
Miller began to see the importance of equality activism when she befriended a transgender student. Witnessing the psychologically taxing experience of her friend being mistreated, mis-gendered and bullied in the bathroom gave Miller a new perspective about the world.
It was then that she committed herself to changing it.
“I want to ensure for future generations that we don’t digress; we progress, and we make a change in the world that’s for the positive rather than create another point in history where we do it wrong again.”
Miller has been involved in the Gender Sexuality Alliance since starting high school. She took over the presidency in her junior year and will serve her re-elected term in the fall.
The organization meets every week and enables discussions about LGBTQ+ history, the practice of safe sex, maintaining healthy relationships and providing an outlet for people to share their experiences in a non-judgmental environment.
Miller also spearheaded an after school GSA program on Wednesdays, so she could spend as much of her extracurricular time as possible fighting to achieve equality for marginalized groups.
“I wanted to show the people around me that even though someone isn’t the same as you, it doesn’t mean that they’re less than.”
In addition to her work with the GSA, Miller has also participated in cross country. While she doesn’t plan to continue running in college, it has become a valuable outlet and way to clear her mind.
In the current political climate of the United States, Miller is more determined than ever to develop her voice and use her influence to better the world in which she lives.
“I feel like right now a popular thing people choose to do is to choose ignorance over broadening their mind to other people’s point of view,” Miller says. “I feel like our culture is rising up in a different way than we’ve ever seen before. More young people are getting involved in activism. More people are joining protests, but I also see the other side of that, where people are choosing hate and choosing discrimination and bigotry over learning to evolve as human beings and expand their mind and accept others.”
The law is a broad and challenging vocation. Miller has yet to decide the exact trajectory of her career as an attorney, but the light at the end of her educational tunnel is clear as day.
“I hope that even if it’s just case by case, in the future, I’ll be making a difference in the world around me.”
