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About Me

          My name is Grayson Pitcock. I founded Philosophy Check, a philosophy club to start conversations among students about philosophical ideas. I attend Bergen Catholic High School and have spent most of my life living in Tenafly, which occupies five square miles in the northern end of New Jersey. With a 41.7% minority population, my hometown is diverse. Neighbors on my street speak Korean, Hebrew, Spanish, Hindi, and Russian. 

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          My family is multicultural. One side of my family, from the Midwest, has deep American roots dating back to the Revolutionary War, and the other side, from the East Coast, is a second-generation immigrant family of Korean ancestry. Although many aspects of my family upbringing may sound familiar, my multicultural background has enabled me to experience contrasting ideas, beliefs, and perspectives representing the diverse opinions of this vast country. Building relationships across differences happens nearly daily, both within and outside my family. 

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          I am interested in understanding how people can disagree profoundly yet still share space, community, and even friendship. Living in this environment has made me deeply curious about how people arrive at their beliefs, how truth is constructed and contested, and what it means to live ethically in a pluralistic society. I find myself drawn to philosophy because I am fascinated by the frameworks we use to ask questions about justice, morality, freedom, and self.

 

        In my free time, I enjoy finding ways to bring people together through community advocacy, to support youth mental health and environmental justice. This means showing up fully, learning as I go, and bringing others along with me. Whether between different groups at school or in conversations where people don’t agree, I enjoy challenging myself and those around me to question their assumptions and see all sides of our choices while bridging gaps across divides. I am a part of a Youth Advisory Board for NJ4S, a state-led initiative that advocates for youth mental wellness in New Jersey. The Youth Advisory Board is a group of health care professionals, community organizers, and students who meet in person or virtually every month. Of the many communities that I am involved in, this one is significant to me in that I am surrounded by others who share the same belief I hold in community advocacy, of gathering experiences and building networks between communities and policymakers that can address the health needs of local communities in northern New Jersey. 

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