Congratulations Aliso Niguel students, you did it! Thank you to all Aliso Niguel friends, family, and those around the world who helped garner such overwhelming support for Aliso Niguel’s students and the opportunity they were almost robbed of. Social media is such a powerful tool, and we have all seen over the past 24 hours the difference it can make for those whose voices have gone unheard; whether their cause is big or small. When I heard last night that Aliso’s administration had taken such dramatic action because of the complaints of a small minority of parents, I was at a loss for words. It seemed so wrong to take such an amazing experience and gift away from students who had joined together to win such a rare opportunity. After talking with several students who currently attend Aliso, including my brother, and seeing how hopeless the student body felt about their ability to change the minds of Aliso Niguel’s administration, I felt an obligation to help their voices and dissent be heard. In just a few minutes after making this petition, and sharing it on Facebook, hundreds of you began supporting the petition and sharing it with others. Before I knew it, Macklemore had retweeted our story, and a Reddit post about what had happened was ascending to the “Front Page of the Internet” for hundreds of thousands to see. Our community’s little issue was now being seen and supported by people from all over the country, and the world, in a matter of hours. You all chose to have your voices heard, and the internet listened. Around noon today, the echoes of our dissent reached Aliso Niguel’s administration loud and clear; they too listened, and a compromise was made. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis will be coming to Aliso Niguel, and the music department will get their $10,000 grant. Together, we not only successfully voiced our dissent to Aliso’s administration and their rash actions, but showed each other the difference we can make when we come together and choose to do something about things we feel aren’t right. I hope we all remember the power of social media, and lend our voices to those in real need as their faces and stories pass by on our news feeds. So much could be done to make our world a better place if we choose to actively stand against the injustices we see happening around us, and use the power our voices now have when we speak together. Together our voices are loud enough to cross borders and oceans. I want to make sure Quinn Darling, Coral Bustos, and the person who created the Reddit post get the recognition they all deserve. None of this would have been possible without them standing up and speaking out. Again, congratulations Aliso Niguel students. Your voices have been heard, and you can now declare victory. Sincerely, Sydney Freeman Sacker