Photo courtesy of Ross Esterline
When Ross Esterline came out as gay his freshman year of high school, a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Four years later and a recent graduate from Dublin Scioto High School, Esterline feels more confident than ever, which has allowed him to be himself and focus on his big-time dreams.
“I have been so much more confident and happy as a person,” says Esterline. “It was stressful. And I don’t need more stress than I already have.”
Apart from schoolwork, Esterline kept very busy throughout high school. He participated in year-round volleyball, founded and was president of Scioto’s Gay-Straight Alliance, played percussion in the marching and concert bands, and was secretary of the National Honor Society.
On top of all of that, Esterline oversaw an entire fundraising event his senior year; he helped raise more than $2,000 for the maternity ward at OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital.
“I think fundraising is a great way to see the good in people,” says Esterline. “When you give the opportunity, people are going to take it because they want to help. It’s just (that) someone has to start the initiative.”
Esterline took charge. He oversaw 25 students, worked with administrative staff, wrote proposals and spoke with companies to encourage them to contribute. In the end, the team came up with creative ways to fundraise each day for a week.
“The reason we did so many different variations of fundraising was because a lot of fundraisers are just one activity focused on one demographic of people,” says Esterline. “If they didn’t want to participate one day, hopefully we would get them the next day.”
One day students had the opportunity to win a homeroom breakfast if they raised the most money, and another day featured a carnival to which local business donated food.
“I wanted this to be something new, something different, and we had never donated to Dublin Methodist Hospital,” says Esterline. “This weeklong fundraiser … was supposed to be creative and fun. It’s something that people could support, and it is going to impact the future generations of our school.”
Esterline says he wanted to give to future Scioto students. Plus, the fundraiser was an amazing learning experience for college.
This fall, Esterline will attend the Ohio University College of Business with honors. He is also one of 25 students who have been chosen to do an intensive study abroad business program his sophomore year. He and four other students will help a real company solve a real problem.
“This company could actually take your proposal at the end of the two weeks and implement it into their entire company,” says Esterline. “This is life experience.”
Esterline won’t know which country he will be traveling to until a week before departure. However, he cannot travel to a country in which he can speak the native language. Esterline is crossing his fingers for Italy or Greece.
“I want to know six languages,” says Esterline, who can already speak French. “Being able to converse in someone’s native language, it’s like unlocking a different side of that person.”
Not only does Esterline hope to travel the world one day and work with foreign companies, he also plans to attend law school after OU to further his education and pursue an even bigger dream: being the U.S. Attorney General. He says he wants people to be able to be themselves and have equal opportunities.
“I, luckily, am living in a community where it is widely accepted to be who I am … and that’s another reason I want to go into law. There are some people who can’t live the life they want to live, they’re scared to be who they are,” says Esterline. “So, my main goal in life is to expand equalities … I want to help people.”
Lydia Freudenberg is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
