Senior Year: You are a sunshine

Christina Garcia is a senior at East High School. Garcia is transgender and is involved in multiple activities in school: cheer, choir, bells, Scarlet Squad and Theatre. She has a beautiful smile, and a great sense of humor. Confidence has several definitions, and every definition is right. Christina was asked what confidence meant to her, “Accepting yourself the way you are,” Garcia said.

Having experience with self-love can be complex, it takes courage to open up to yourself. Christina’s experience was a long journey. She did not accept herself until this year. She views herself differently than the way she did her freshman year, Christina had negativity throughout her years.

Now, she enjoys giving herself compliments by putting sticky notes on her mirror. If someone is struggling with self-love, what would they want to know? “You’ll get there eventually,” Garcia said. A tip you would want to keep in mind is “if you want to love yourself, compliment yourself,” Garcia said.

Freshman Year: Just the beginning

Mercedesse Ly is a freshman at East High School. She enjoys spending time with her brother and going to her grandma’s house. Lately, she has been into clothes and shoes. She does makeup in her free time. Her favorite makeup brand is Morphe because it has good palettes. Also, in her free time, she goes shopping. Ly was asked what confidence meant to her, “someone that is outgoing, and also someone who loves themselves,” Ly said. She has had experience with self-love, and she loves when people compliment her on social media, as in commenting in her photos. It gives her a great feeling. As a teenager you feel pressured to be someone you are not. She feels this way “because everybody likes more of that Instagram body,” Ly said. Every female is unique in their own way, each body part is beautiful. As a freshman, things can get rough, people start to change, some want to change the image of a teenager. “I definitely think that I try my best to do my hair and makeup, there’s more people around,” Ly said.