Molly Rockett the Definition of Involvement

If you look up the word “involved” in the dictionary, you’d probably find a picture of senior Molly Rockett next to it.

In addition to being involved with various clubs and activities at school, Rockett is also very involved in her community.

At school, she says she has participated in three quarters of the activities that the school has to offer.

She did Math Team for four years, which she says were a blast even though she is “awful at math.” She did Scriptura, Go Green and Junior Engineering Technicians Society (JETS) – where she won a second place medal in a competition.

She said that she tries to have interdisciplinary interests.

Rockett has also been active in the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) for four years, and was president this last year.

“I feel passionately about LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) equality,” she said. “It’s one of the many social issues that I think can be addressed through legislation and policy change in government.”

She is also a member of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which is Connecticut's student leadership team, and through that program has lead several seminars on the topics of LGBT equality.

A big thing that Rockett is involved with is politics and says she has been politically active in the Somers community for most of her life.

She was the Town Campaign Captain for Joe Courtney's congressional race this past fall and in the spring of her junior year, she personally organized an assembly in which Courtney came to speak at the school and answer student questions.

Rockett is also involved in setting up a new branch of the Young Democrats in North Central Connecticut, although that project is still in its developmental stages.

“I really care about modern issues, and I consider myself a bit of a social activist,” she said. “I also believe that an understanding of law is essential in effectuating any real change in government, so I plan to attend UCONN Law myself in four years.”

Rockett has been accepted into the Special Program In Law at the University of Connecticut - which will funnel her directly into Law School. 

“I want to work in some aspect of politics or government as a career in the future,” she said. “I really see politics as where all the change in our world happens, and I want to be there when it does.”

She says that both of her parents are both licensed attorneys, though neither are practicing.

“I guess it also runs in the genes,” she said. “I was taught invalidity of past consideration before I learned to ride a bicycle, and 'res ipsa loquitur' was my favorite catch phrase as a kid.”

Rockett added that her family is big and that she has three younger brothers, and that her parents are kind of intellectuals, so her upbringing was unique to say the least. 

“When I was five, instead of wanting to be a ballet dancer, I wanted to be a vulcanologist when I grew up,” She said. “One too many science discussions at the dinner table, I think.”

Rockett was diagnosed with Dysgraphia in fourth grade, and spent the next seven years in Special Education. However, she was never interested in letting the disability define her, or her education.

“We got my IEP (Individualized Education Plan) sorted out early in middle school, and I took off from there,” she said.

She said that Dysgraphia primarily makes it difficult for her to write by hand, spell, and read long passages because of decoding issues. She got a computer for the writing – typing bypasses the decoding issue, learned to type 65 words per minute by seventh grade, and did four years of vision therapy to help her reading.

“Ironically, I'm now and avid reader and the best writer in my class,” she said. “I’m sorry to be so immodest, but I only make that assertion because I've won the English award for the past three consecutive years, and I have the top GPA in my AP English Class. Articulation and an understanding of the English language go hand in hand with social advocacy, politics, and law. It’s all about having a voice, and lending it to others.”

Rockett says that she was the only special education student on High Honors and in Honors classes for the majority of her middle school and high school education.

“It was a lesson in self-advocacy for sure, and the stigma of special ed. was annoying, but all in all I managed,” she said. “I'm graduating in the top ten percent of my class with a in various classes. I can kind of limp my way through math and the sciences, but my real love is English and literature. Which is why I plan to major in English and Political Science in the UCONN honors program next year.”

As something of interest about her personally, Rockett adds that she has 34 first cousins as her mother was one of 11 children and her father was one of eight children. She adds that her father was also a commander in the Navy reserves, so the family is big on honor and familial duty.