The conversations that kept him going

Written by: Dulce Ortiz 🇬🇹

Headshot of Owen Kramer. (Emelyn Gomez)

Owen Kramer has had many conversations that have shaped his view on life. 

One evening with his grandfather, he discussed his internal thoughts regarding his background. As a half-Cuban, half-Western European, he always questioned where he stood culturally.

“How do I interact with the world?” he asked. “I don't want to say that I have had the same experience as other people, because I haven't… but I do also want to make sure that I am not hiding any part of my identity or hiding any part of my family.”

His grandfather told him that if Kramer didn’t feel comfortable “checking a box” for himself, he should do it on his behalf. In the 1960s, his grandfather fled Cuba to escape the communist regime and start a new life in the U.S.

Kramer has always had a deep love and respect for his family. Throughout his upbringing, especially as the oldest of four brothers and one sister, their celebrations were always together—and so were their challenges.

He faced a new reality following the passing of his sister, which he believes deeply impacted the way he viewed life.

“Having that experience of not being able to go out and face the world is, I feel, a strange turn of phrase, but an effective one nonetheless,” he said. “That gave me this sort of renewed ability to both push forward through things that I find are hard and also have perspective on things."

He learned a lot by stepping in as a third parent to his brothers while his parents were juggling life, recognizing the great measures they took for his family.

“There have been a lot of times raising me and my brothers was not an easy feat… but they always handled it with grace,” he added. “I really appreciate them and everything they did to raise us.”

Photo of the Kramer Family. (Courtesy of Owen Kramer)

Aside from his family, Kramer was passionate about current events and understanding the factors that shape a nation’s governmental practices. Following this interest, he pursued a major in government and politics.

Kramer, a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park, to find new opportunities for his personal development. He became a resident assistant and a member of the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department.

These circles allowed him to determine the next steps toward a potential career in government through his international relations journey.  

In the moments and conversations where he struggled most, his family’s continuous support inspired him to keep going. And even in times when he wasn’t sure of what came next, he realized that the most resilient part was to try anyway, because you’d never know what opportunity is waiting to become another meaningful conversation.

“As a kid, Owen was unimpressed with school. It wasn’t sufficient for adults to tell him something was important. But once he decided for himself that it mattered, he embraced school as a path to the kinds of futures he imagined for himself.” - Owen Kramer’s parents