She ties her beautiful highlighted curls up into a low ponytail, puts on her navy blue running shoes, and lotions up her body with a coconut scented lotion. Her roaring dark brown eyes are focused on the piles and piles of responsibility as she says, “I’ll run and run until I feel like I’m far away from my thoughts.”
Krisnette Victoria Rodriguez Mercado, a 16 year old Puerto Rican high school student at West Leyden High School, comes from a family with high needs and sets the standards for the future generations. Before coming to Chicago, Krisnette — also known as Krissy — lived in Puerto Rico with her mom, brother and grandma.
Krissy talked about her transition from Puerto Rico to Chicago and how difficult it was for little 6 year old Krissy: “It was very difficult for me, I was very confused. I didn’t know any English or nothing like that. I kept getting pulled out of my classes, often just for them to help me. I had to learn my ABCs. They used a lot of songs and everything, and it was really hard.” Krissy says.
She continues, “The hardest thing for me was getting my homework done. It was only hard because my mom didn’t know English, and nobody in my family knew English. So with that being said, I had to basically do everything by myself, like, if I didn’t understand the homework that the teacher was handing me, I had to go up to the teacher and ask her straight away before I even went home”
Little did Krissy know that her school life was only going to get harder from there. After taking on this obstacle and learning how to read and write in a new language, she had to face another obstacle. She recalls, ”And so I remember one of the girls just hated my guts. She would push me, talk a lot of smack about me, make faces at me, and I would constantly report her to the teacher, and she wouldn’t do anything. I would come home and actually have seizures, like actual seizures. Sometimes I would wake up in the emergency room, and I would look at my mom and be like, what happened? And she’s like, You were sleeping and had a seizure. All because my body was just overly stressed from going to school. This led to
This experience left Krissy feeling isolated and unheard.
As her siblings came into her life, she felt as if there was a light inside her; there was still hope. ”I remember how it was a very dark and lonely time for me, but as my siblings became a part of the picture, it felt like I finally had something for myself, my built-in friends.”
She loves her siblings to death, however this meant she had more responsibility as she entered middle school. Not only was she a student, she became a second mom to her siblings. “No, I actually needed to be home because I was an older sister, so I needed to be home for my siblings. Sometimes I had to pick them up. So I had lots of responsibility at home.” Krissy says, “I practically took the role of being a second mom to my brothers.”
School was her only escape— so she thought. Krissy’s school life wasn’t any better. “ I remember like I had gotten put in this group chat where they had found a picture, gotten a picture, where I had only sent it to one of the girls that I thought was my friend, and they were doing tic tac toe. They were literally putting a tic tac toe on my forehead, and they just kept adding me to the group chat whenever I left. It got so bad, my mom found me crying in my room.”
Despite how hurt she was, she doesn’t hold grudges or anything like that. “ I don’t want to hold anybody accountable, like I understand we were kids, and it’s something like that. I never do. I’m not somebody to hold you accountable for your stupid mistakes or your dumb mistakes.”
Krissy felt as if there was no hope once again, going into a new, bigger school with no friends. In her eyes, all she saw was the little helpless 1st grader, who had to start from scratch. “I remember feeling alone. All I could think of was how I felt in 1st grade and how difficult it was for me” Krissy says, tearing up and reminiscing about those times all over again. “But then I found my love for track and cross country.”
Krissy still felt like the world was on her back. This sport was the only thing that wouldn’t make her feel like that. ”I originally started off as my only escape from home as an older sister, which meant I had a lot of responsibility my whole middle school year and a lot of pressure on me. I knew that I needed a safe space. I couldn’t take all this stress out, and running was just my only method.”
“I put on my shoes and I just ran my mind out,” she continues, “I would come back and have a fresh and calmer mindset when I would get home. Now it’s just fun, because honestly, I am very passionate about it, even though I know I’m not going to continue doing it. I love the team, I love my girls. I love what I do. It makes me feel good, and it feels weird when I don’t, when I’m on my off season.”
This sport has helped Krissy in many ways, one of them being about friendships. “I like cross country because I love being with my friends, and it means I get more time to run around with them, talk to them, and I get to just be a chatterbox. I love it.”
Krissy doesn’t plan on doing this after high school. But this sport has helped her relieve stress, make friends, and learn how to manage her responsibility without feeling like the world is going to chew her up and spit her out. She is a very positive and bright person who brings a smile to everyone’s face.
