'Each day is another chance to find light': Hoffman Estates grad reflects on senior year
While drafting this essay, I kept running into corners. Dark corners. Corners filled with months of isolation and darkness, the black screens and silence. The way weeks faded into one long, blurry day. When reflecting, my thoughts were, at first, dark.
But despite the lows of this year, like us students essentially self-teaching course content and feeling alone to the point of detachment, there were the high points as well. Instead of coexisting with my family, I learned how to cherish and appreciate them, sitting down for once to truly love them.
Instead of loathing myself like in school years prior, isolation taught me how to accept and value myself as I am. Now, I'm unafraid to be my genuine self no matter where I go.
Of course, there are the irreplaceable things that the pandemic took away. My classmates and I won't forget how we never got to say real goodbyes to teachers, decorate the hallways for homecoming, and paint ourselves for football games.
Though, above all these things, I wish we could have been together. I remember our moments of mutual understanding, like when we laughed about performing poorly on tests or whining about presentations and homework assignments. Simply put, I miss the moments when we looked at each other and knew that we were feeling the exact same thing.
What kept me going, and what I believe kept all of us going, was the desire to gain something out of this. Beyond the sleepless nights and emptiness, I trusted that we would be OK because I saw how we innovated solutions, how my peers kept on going.
Because of what I saw in others, I continued my fight each day.
While we're still living through a pandemic, I know I've changed for the better. Not only did I learn how much we all need to connect with each other, but I also saw how resilient we are as people.
Time and time again, I was amazed at how my generation laughed in the face of hardship and powered through. While COVID attempted to victimize us, we made it clear that we are not victims.
No matter what comes next, I am forever grateful because I have a chance to live life again. Each day is another chance to find light beyond the darkness. I know without a doubt that we will see light again.
• Jazmin Garcia graduated in May from Hoffman Estates High School. The 18-year-old from Hoffman Estates plans to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as part of the James Scholar Honors Program. She's undecided on a major, but interested in pursuing a career in forensic science, perhaps as a forensic pathologist.