This guest post is by Jared Sullivan, a young man who was accepted to UH West Oahu. He is an advocate for the Spring 2025 Making a Difference Autism Scholarship via the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference started by me, Kerry Magro. I was nonverbal till 2.5 and diagnosed with autism at 4 and you can read more about my organization here.
Autistics on Autism the Next Chapter: Stories You Need to Hear About What Helped Them While Growing Up and Pursuing Their Dreams was released on Amazon on 3/25/25 and looks at the lives over 75 Autistic adults. 100% of the proceeds from this book will go back to supporting our nonprofits many initiatives, like this scholarship program. Check out the book here.
From a pretty early age, I didn’t realize how different I was from most of my peers despite perfectly fitting in with them, as well as my sharp-tongued nature. And it wasn’t until I was early into my adult months as I had realized I had been diagnosed with autism since I was the age of 4. Despite being part of the autism spectrum, I still don’t see my condition as a limiting factor. I embrace it as my strength, one that shaped my academic ambitions, personal resilience, and unwavering passion for learning.
In the academic sense, I excelled in structured environments requiring logic, problem-solving, and deep focus. My particular strengths lie in math and science, where precision and critical thinking are essential. Through most of high school, I challenged myself with rigorous coursework, earning myself some nice grades while also trying a few extracurriculars that aligned nicely with my interests.
One of these extracurriculars in particular is something that I was pretty fond of during my time in high school, the LEO Club. This is a club I did for 2 years, doing multiple acts of volunteer work such as cleaning the block in Mililani, setting up and putting away a book sale, and even participating in the local Christmas parade. This experience taught me the importance of giving back to the community, working together with others, and making choices for the betterment of my community. This way, I learned a bit more about teamwork in any job that I decide to partake in, have it be something small like the local volunteer cleanup, or something big like building the next rocket.
Beyond my school and extracurricular life, my passions for gaming and anime play a significant role in who I am today, especially growing up with Pokemon. This is especially true during my quarantine days when I spent the majority of my time in Anime, video games, and Japanese culture as a whole, all before arriving as the man I am today as these aren’t just hobbies, but also important parts of my identity that I gained amidst the pandemic. Through gaming, I honed many of my problem-solving skills, teamwork, and perseverance, while anime fueled my imagination and deepened my appreciation of storytelling, culture, and artistic expression through one’s identity and the quality of which people could craft. Both also even provide me with a sense of belonging and ways and means to connect with others of similar interests, especially with many convention-goers such as my family and their friends. This would let me understand certain parts of culture more the better I get at learning about what was there, even if I didn’t understand some of it at first. Then, I would be able to convert many of these ideas I found to real-life scenarios.
Of course, my journey wasn’t without its challenges. Social interactions and sensory sensitivities, in particular, are quite difficult for me and sometimes make everyday situations overwhelming. Combine that with my not-so-friendly nature and sheer brutal honesty, and trying to find someone to help who isn’t my family would prove a very difficult challenge, especially with the sheer instability the mainland is in as of late. Even so, I still developed strategies to get through, such as self-advocacy, therapy, and a great support system. These values enabled me to manage my challenges while also embracing my individuality, teaching me resilience, adaptability, and the importance of advocating for myself. I also got myself to take many deep breaths and listening to many songs that I like on breaks just in case things wind up going bad in any sort of situation.
My current goal is to earn a bachelor’s degree in business. I haven’t decided much on what specific college or career I want to pursue by this, but I do know that no matter where I head, I will ensure I prove to people that autism isn’t a barrier. It’s something unique about a person that can give unique strengths, all that can be achieved from a unique perspective.
Receiving this scholarship would not only free me from the financial burden of higher education, but it would also help me continue my dedication and hard work. As someone who took many unique challenges before, I am more than ready to embrace my next chapter in life with confidence, taking the many more challenges that lie ahead, and proving that my condition isn’t a barrier, but rather, a strength.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue a post-secondary education. Help us continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
Also, consider having Kerry, one of the only professionally accredited speakers on the spectrum in the country, speak at your next event by sending him an inquiry here. If you have a referral for someone who many want him to speak please reach out as well! Kerry speaks with schools, businesses, government agencies, colleges, nonprofit organizations, parent groups and other special events on topics ranging from employment, how to succeed in college with a learning disability, internal communication, living with autism, bullying prevention, social media best practices, innovation, presentation best practices and much more!
