After mom passes away, student finds strength

Association of California School Administrators

ESS 2021: After mom passes away, student finds strength

October 4, 2021

Adrian Chun Grade: 12 School: Wheatland Union High School District: Wheatland Union HSD ACSA region: 2 Adrian Chun was looking forward to his senior year at Wheatland Union High School. But two weeks before Christmas, Adrian’s mother unexpectedly passed away. The school community provided an outpouring of support for Adrian’s family including a food train.

After the death of his mother, Adrian’s grades started to fall as he lacked motivation. But thanks to friends and family, Adrian decided to fulfill a promise he made to his mom: graduate from high school.

What was it like to find out you won the ACSA Every Student Succeeding award? I was actually in class when I learned I won the award. I felt very happy and kind of proud because I know my mom would be proud to know I won this type of award. She would be smiling and taking photos of me. It meant a lot to me.

Could you share a little about your mother and how she impacted your life? I honestly felt a lot of pain and sadness. I just use that to push toward my goals that I have in the future. She was basically my number one supporter. She supported me through everything. I knew no matter what I did, she would always be there for me. And after her passing, it was a major flip. And trying to push yourself toward your goals is pretty hard. So, I had to deal with that and find myself through that.

What role did your school community play in helping you grieve the loss of your mom? The day after her passing, everyone knew about it. My uncle’s girlfriend created a GoFundMe page. And all I saw on Snapchat that night was everybody reposting and saying they donated. And that made me really happy.

How has sports helped shape what you want to do with your life? Pretty much all my life, since I was 5 years old, I’ve been really into sports. And I always knew I wanted to do something involved with sports. So, I plan to major in kinesiology and want to become a physical therapist.

What advice would you give to other students who are facing similar experiences? The advice I would give is to understand the pain. And to understand that you will have those types of feelings. But make sure that it motivates you to become someone way better than you were before the trauma.

Region 2 2021 Every Student Succeeding Adrian Chun.