To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to offer my strongest possible recommendation for my daughter, Rhys Setnik-King, as she applies to Fordham University. Over the past year, I have witnessed a profound transformation in Rhys—one that has reshaped her academic trajectory and solidified her readiness for the challenges of higher education. So much about Rhys has changed in the last year, and so much has stayed the same. As Rhys's father, I've seen her transform in front of our eyes. In her 3 years in Ithaca, she drifted from disengaged to angry and self-injurious, culminating in a failed third year. That year was spent in panic, in isolation, in hospitalization. Yet she didn't seem to know how to advocate for herself, she didn't seem to believe in her own worth. All that changed in August when she entered an intensive outpatient therapy program after returning home. She emerged a new person, one who asked for what she wanted. She broke off a challenging relationship. I was there to support her. She ended the relationship with the deepest care, it was one of the kindest conversations I've ever seen, despite the purpose of the call being about an end, a conflict. I realized in that moment that I was seeing a new person arrive, but a person with the same underlying principles of love and compassion. Rhys has always been someone founded in love and caring. She is the first person that dogs go to because she has only love for them. She is a key supporter that friends call when they need a lift. In high school, she was unmoved by her own success during awards, but she pumped her fist and jumped for joy over her friends' successes. After Rhys completed the program in August, she began to advocate for herself in other ways. She started treatment to transition male-female. And, since then, she has emerged as an adult. She has been living at home this last year, and for the first time in her life, we have been able to count on her. She has managed our home with the animals (dogs, bunny, chickens) and garden (not a small garden box) when we have been away. She enrolled in the local community college, and we saw her manage an extremely busy spring which found her joining the pit for a musical at the last minute, anchoring the pit in two parts including woodwinds and keyboard. Simultaneously, she successfully completed her finals period, and created the score for a friends' movie project. She achieved all of this without our input, and honestly with grace. Other evidence of her readiness for academics include that she was able to complete four classes at NHTI, her emergence as a reader with regular visits to the library, and her ongoing writing about music. She has kept a journal of sorts with a daily writing habit, listening to new albums, processing them, and describing them to herself. She even invented a phonetic language to journal in, so she can write private journals that only she can read. Her creativity and engaged mind have continued, even when she hasn't been in class. I always told Rhys, "You are a good person at your core, you are going to be okay. You need to find your way." But, during her darkest struggles, I wasn't always sure it was true. Since starting treatment and transforming herself over the last year, I strongly recommend Rhys for college. I now see she has the attitude, aptitude, and soul to be successful. It has been a gift to be able to watch her transformation over the last year. Please contact me with any questions or concerns, Lon Setnik, MD MHPE FACEP 2 Currier Rd. Concord, NH 03301 603-545-5190