Eva, 18
Prayer Request: Pray for my well-being and my recovery. That I can be successful in this journey and have the will and determination to move forward in life.
The students at Eastside Academy come to us in various states of crisis, each with their own unique stories, situations, and challenges. They all desire help, however sometimes they are unable to accept or articulate the help they desire. Eva decided herself to re-enroll at Eastside Academy for her senior year. She came with a strong determination to succeed, and a solid plan to move forward.
“I started at Eastside Academy my freshman year,” Eva said. “I needed the help to overcome my addiction to alcohol, and the support to walk through what had happened to me for several years starting when I was 7.” Born in El Salvador, Eva and her family moved to the States when she was 3 years old. Her family moved around a lot from Los Angeles to Redmond to Federal Way and a lot of other places in-between.
At the age of 7, Eva experienced an ongoing and unspeakable trauma that would give shape to her adolescence. Feeling trapped and with nowhere to turn, Eva began drinking as a way of coping with what was happening to her. “I wanted an escape; I needed a way to forget what was happening to me,” she said with tears in her eyes. The alcohol numbed the pain temporarily, she said, “but the images and the memories always came back.”
Eva hit a turning point when she was 13. “It was the night I almost died. The root of my trauma returned and yet again felt trapped with such despair I turned to alcohol. I blacked out from drinking with some friends. I was laying there on the ground and no one really thought anything was wrong, just that I had passed out. But after a while, after I hadn’t moved, they called 911,” she shared. “The paramedics told me if someone hadn’t called the ambulance, I wouldn’t have made it.”
Shortly after that, Eva enrolled at Eastside Academy to continue her freshman year and moved into the girls Renew Home. “I really needed the support of the Renew Homes,” she said. “I needed a place to go and get away from the toxic environment I was living in.” Eva did well her freshman year, “I learned a lot about myself and about who I wanted to be,” but at the end of the year her mom brought her home. “My mom needed me to help her and give her support.”
Eva spent her sophomore year online, like all public-school students during COVID. “It was really difficult, and I really struggled with my past traumas. So I resorted to smoking as a way to erase the past.” So, she made the decision herself to re-enroll at Eastside Academy and move back into the Renew Girls Home.
Kristin Britt, Eva’s teacher for Senior Seminar said, “Eva is one of the most dedicated students I’ve ever had. She produces some of the best work, has a strong work ethic, and is extremely bright.” Carl Dodd, our Head of School said that Eva “always goes above and beyond academically.”
“I came back to Eastside Academy for me,” Eva said. “I wanted to find myself. I want to get to know who I am.” And it shows.
Eva has a drive, a determination, and has a solid focus coming into her senior year. “I plan on doing running-start and acquiring more college credit before I graduate this year,” she said. “I want to go to college. Possibly Bellevue College to start, but I’d really like to travel somewhere else for school.” In the long-term Eva wants to go into business or finance, perhaps even start a few businesses of her own, and travel the world, she said with a smile of hope on her face.
“Eva is such a delight,” her counselor Lerin Herzer said. “She’s driven. I have been so impressed by her and I’m excited to see where she goes.”
