Tanner Dodt, one of the National Leaders Collective’s leaders of the month, is a Students for Life of America William Wilberforce Fellow attending the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. Learn more about Dodt’s activism below. 

I am involved in the pro-life movement because I am blessed with parents who would have never considered abortion under any circumstance and so I feel called to advocate on behalf of all the unborn, so that every child in the womb may be valued and cherished, and every mother and father may have the support they need to choose life for their child.

After joining my college’s Students for Life group, Trojans for Life, during my sophomore year, I was chosen to be part of the group’s e-board as the social media chair, a position I held for a year and a half. When I first started this position, I was very passionate about pro-life work but did not necessarily have the leadership skills to channel this passion most effectively.

Last January, my Students for Life group went to Washington, D.C., for the National March for Life and the Students for Life National Pro-Life Summit. The National Pro-Life Summit was an amazing experience that deepened my already intense passion for the pro-life movement. After just that single day at the Summit, I felt much better equipped to lead my pro-life group. I also learned about the National Leadership Collective and, after being nominated by my regional coordinator Gabe Penner, applied for the program, eager to learn more about how to become a better leader in the pro-life movement.

I was very excited to be accepted into the William Wilberforce Fellowship, which has equipped me to be a more effective leader at a pivotal time, especially since I became the co-president of Trojans for Life last semester.   

In November, we held a diaper drive in partnership with UCLA’s pro-life group outside a local grocery store and collected over 40 packs of diapers, 25 packs of wipes, and lots of other baby supplies for mothers in need. We actually collected every pack of diapers that the grocery store had in stock! We also spread the word about Standing with You’s resources for pregnant and parenting mothers.

Later that month, we organized the celebration of a Requiem Mass for the Unborn at the Catholic Center on our campus to remember and pray for the unborn killed in abortion. It was a beautiful candlelit Mass, and I composed the music for it. We had over 40 people attend the Mass from across Los Angeles and raised over $150 for our local pregnancy resource center. We also handed out pamphlets about the local Pregnancy Center to all who attended.

Finally, at the end of the month, we hosted Students for Life’s fall tour titled “All Human Life Is Valuable” with our current regional coordinator Christian Alan. We spoke with about 20 students about what makes human life valuable and had some very productive conversations. 

Being a part of the National Leaders Collective has been nothing short of transformative, helping me to become a much more effective leader and to better channel my passion for the pro-life movement. In particular, this program has taught me to adapt to obstacles encountered during campus activism and equipped me to organize outreach on a larger scale — a skill I had felt I could never acquire.

In addition, the support and fellowship of the Students for Life team and the other students in the program have been a huge source of encouragement and inspiration.