A radiant smile, one hand holding up a class of 2021 sign given to her by an overjoyed family, and one hand in the pocket of her pretty dress, Stephanie Enamorado has made it across the finish line. We all know trying to survive and thrive in this (at times) hard world is not easy nor simple. Throw it being your senior year and an international pandemic into the mix and it is truly not for the faint of heart. Stephanie has had to persist through unprecedented times and challenges and now, here she stands beaming, a graduate.

And how did Stephanie make it through to achieve what she calls her proudest accomplishment, “getting through half of high school online?” There were no magic spells, no lightning strikes, just a young person working hard who is loved and held up by her family. As Stephanie says she would tell her younger self, “things are never going to be easy but keep fight[ing] and push through tough times.” And so in these challenging times, Stephanie worked to create space and time for herself to... just be. Stephanie said, “going outside and listening to music to just zone out and think about things” helped her cope with the pandemic.

Stephanie says simply, that her life is, “not easy but it’s good.” She says she would tell her younger self, “always love yourself and enjoy life.” These experiences and realizations of love and joy despite hardship, reveal that Stephanie, like all people on this earth, is entitled to joy, but that joy is not a given and, in fact, often must be made and claimed. We hope these realizations fall like drops of rain on the seeds of Stephanie’s young life and dreams.

Please join us, and Stephanie’s overjoyed family, in celebrating her joining the graduating class of 2021. Graduating wasn’t a given and wasn’t easy, but Stephanie did it. May she continue on her path and may the road rise up to meet her!