Last Thursday, there was a Video Bulletin segment on Ally Loo, a senior at Dublin High School. Loo created PATCH, Plushies Aimed to Comfort Hearts,  and divulged her story and what inspired her to create this club. A victim of sexual assault and and child abuse as a kid, Ally Loo refused to let her past define her.

“Up until sophomore year, I really wanted to shut everything out. But I realized if this happened in my life, it must have happened for a reason and I should change it and do something positive and help other people.” Loo said of her decision to speak out about her past and create the club. “My initial idea was to make it a legitimate non-profit, but I wasn’t sure how people would respond to it, so I decided to start it at a club first.” Ally plans to achieve her initial goal of making PATCH a nonprofit organization after graduating high school, as well as starting a chapter of it at her future college.

“I received a Tri-Valley award recently, and a couple of superintendents there were interested in starting it at their school, and I think that’s a really big door for me,” said Loo.

Ally Loo plans on continuing to help out PATCH as a high school club even after graduation, and is looking into implementing it into schools outside of Dublin. She also plans on continuing to go back to Calico, the organization that helped her as a child, to help out in the future.

“During this process, I met a lot of professionals, both at Calico and other medical professionals, and it’s just crazy how they don’t even know you but they’ll be super kind to you. That really influenced me to want to join the medical field, and I love working with children, so I want to become a pediatric nurse.” Armed with a kind heart and a strong passion for helping other children in need like she once was, Ally Loo looks on with high hopes for the future. She serves as an inspiration to all who have experienced abuse as a child, and shows how bad things can happen to good people, and that those experiences can serve to make us stronger in spite of it. If anything’s for sure, it’s that Ally Loo will continue to impact the lives of many throughout her life.