Humans of Emma Willard School

“I easily let myself become overwhelmed by everything that is going on in my life and I feel like that is something that I am trying to break away from because I have noticed that it negatively affects everything around me. I am trying to compartmentalize my life and figure out ways that I do not let myself become as anxious as I know I can be. I have been trying to mediate and other things along that line but it is hard when you live in such an anxiety heavy culture when the norm is to be overwhelmed and anxious most of the time. It has been hard trying to break away from that, but I am working on it.”

We have been making progress doing our interviews, but are not necessarily where we originally wanted to be by this time. Depending on how many more interviews we can get done within the next few weeks, I think that we should reconsider our end goal of making a book. My idea is that we create an exhibition somewhere on campus with our pictures and the quotes, and next year I could use the interviews from the past two years and make a book.

This month I started doing interviews on my own in preparation for next year when I might be doing the project alone. It was very helpful to already have done many interviews with Julia because it gave me the opportunity to practice my interviewing skills and practice approaching new people.

“I have been going to a camp in New Hampshire for as long as I can remember. It is the best place in the world because I can be my true self without any hesitation. Last year, we went on a trip to the Grand Canyon and it was the best experience of my entire life and I would do anything to go back even for just one day. For me, it is the people that make it so special. You are in a different atmosphere when you are with them because you do not have to worry about home or school and you can just live without any worries.”

We’ve been making good progress with our interviews and are planning to post more over winter break. However, we have only been doing interviews during G period and are seeing the same people every week. We are going to start conducting interviews after school or during lunch in an attempt to find different people that would be interested in talking to us. We want to be able to interview people we do not know too well, as well as find a diverse group of people to reflect the Emma community and are finding that is difficult to do with a limited number of people.

“I started to go to school 16 this year. I do not know their names, but every Wednesday when I go, I have kids that I always hangout with. Last time I went, I got two hugs from the children so *whips*. I go because I really love children and I’m pretty good with them. I help them with their homework and they always do minute-math, something that I used to do, and it is so fun.” 

“If I was given the option to know the date of my death, I would definitely want to know it. I would not live in fear, but rather live each day to its full potential. I don’t think that I would be sad, but I would do as many things as I possibly can, like traveling around the entire world and eating a lot of good food, before that date.”

“My mom is the most influential person in my life because she teaches me how to be a powerful woman and to stand up for what I believe in. Not only this, but she also teaches me to not be treated like a doormat and to really work for what you want. My mom and I are very close, along with the rest of my family. I have an older brother and a younger brother, so when I go home to Jamaica, I don’t really hangout with anyone else but my family because all we need is each other.”

“Some of my favorite things include chemistry and horseback riding. I did not realize that I loved chemistry until last year, but this year in AP chem, we are doing labs on identifying unknown solids and concentrated acids so it is really cool. I love horseback riding because I’ll just go out bareback and gallop in the open grass. This kind of helps me forget about everything going on for an hour or two. Also, being at the barn has made me more resilient to the cold, so it’s helpful during the winter.”

“I feel like it’s obvious, but I really really love music. I started singing back when I was 4 because my mom was super religious so I was forced to sing in the church choir. After that, I moved to a Catholic school in Thailand and I had to sing there every day. This was when I fell in love with choir and music. When I was 10, I got a guitar for my birthday and I fell in love with playing guitar and just doing all this indie and alternative stuff. To me, it was just the best thing in the world and I feel like I still love it today. So much, that I could just sit down and play for hours. My favorite thing about music is that it is universal. No matter where you’re from or what you’re going through, everyone really loves music so it’s a really good way to connect with people and I like doing that.”