10/12/26 & 10/14/26📚 Theo’s Law at Georgia Gwinnett College

Sometimes I truly believe people enter our lives at exactly the right moment. ❤️

When I met Professor Geraldine Diehl, MPA, of Georgia Gwinnett College, she was preparing to teach her students about government, legislation, and how an idea moves through the policy process.

Little did either of us know that I was living that very lesson while working to turn Theo’s Law from a mother’s fight for her son into proposed Georgia legislation.

On October 12 and October 14, 2026, I had the incredible honor of joining Professor Diehl’s American Government classes at Georgia Gwinnett College as a guest speaker to share Theo’s story, our fight for his rights, and everything I have learned along the way.

And October 14 turned into a full circle moment I will never forget.

It was my final class of the week as a guest speaker, but it was also exactly one year since October 14, 2025, when I wrote and publicly presented the legislative proposal for Theo’s Law.

One year earlier, I was sitting behind a computer trying to figure out how to put into legal and policy language what had happened to my son and how to make sure another student would not be left behind.

One year later, I was standing in a college government classroom teaching students about that very journey.

I’m not an attorney. I’m not a politician. I did not begin this knowing how to write legislation or navigate government.

I’m a mother who refused to give up.

There were countless sleepless nights spent researching laws and policies, reading documents, writing emails, making phone calls, asking questions, following up when people did not respond, speaking publicly, contacting legislators, learning government procedures, working with the media, building community support, and continually revising Theo’s Law as I learned more.

I didn’t have all the answers when I started.

I just knew my son deserved someone willing to find them.

Standing in front of those students was emotional and, truthfully, intimidating. But it was also incredibly meaningful. Their questions, attention, curiosity, and willingness to listen reminded me why this work matters.

Government is not only something that happens in a textbook, underneath the Gold Dome, or behind the doors of an elected official’s office.

Sometimes it begins with an ordinary person asking:

Why did this happen?

What does the law say now?

Where is the gap?

And how do we make sure it does not happen to someone else?

Professor Diehl, MPA, thank you for opening your classroom and your heart to Theo’s story. Thank you for seeing educational value in this journey and for allowing your students to study citizen advocacy through something that is still happening in real time.

And to every GGC student who listened, participated, and asked questions, thank you for giving me another opportunity to be Theo’s voice.

Theo cannot stand in that classroom and tell you what happened to him.

So I will.

October 14, 2025: I wrote the proposal for Theo’s Law.

October 14, 2026: I stood in a college government classroom and taught its story.

Theo’s Law is still proposed legislation, and there is more work ahead.

But what a difference one year can make.

For Theo. Always. 💜🩵

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