Earlier this year, three Antioch Community High School students lost someone very close to them, their grandmother, Nana as they called her. From a survey done at ACHS alone, about half of current students have experienced the loss of a loved one firsthand. According to a flyer from Children’s Awareness Day, one in every five students before the age of 18 loses a loved one every year.

To senior Liam Czaplewski, losing his Nana meant losing the person who was around his entire childhood. Many memories people tend to forget are brought up by experiencing a traumatic loss.

“Her being around me was my favorite memory,” Czaplewski said. “Wednesday after school she would pick us up and drive us to the gas station and would buy us a chocolate bar when we were younger, it was just a good time being around her.”

Czaplewski honors his grandmother in everything he does now; whether it be for school or football, it’s all for her. Before every football game, Czaplewski tapes his wrist and writes her name on it to give him the strength and support he needs.

“I wanted her to see me graduate, along with my brother and sister,” Czaplewski said.

When a loss is this traumatic it can change someone’s outlook on life, especially school. A study by Purdue University found that in a four year stand, around 300 students have had a dramatic grade drop due to a loss in their family. Even at the collegiate level, events like these can still cause damage.

Czaplewski and his sister, junior Avery Malicki, both experienced this difficult event during their high school career. This loss impacted them both in a negative way to the point where there was little motivation to finish school or and they distanced themselves from their friends.

“I had no drive to do anything, I had no interest in finishing school, I just did not really care,” Malicki said. “I started to drift away, I still have those same views, but I am trying to get myself back into it because I still have a lot more of school left.”

Having events like this occur can also make family relationships a lot stronger and bring them closer together. This loss brought the Czaplewski-Malicki family together in a way that many families still cannot grasp.

“Life’s too short, it’s not worth dreading people or family members if they do something bad to you,” Czaplewski said. “It’s one thing to be upset but it’s another thing to be mad, you don’t ever want to be mad at your family, they are there for everything.”

This loss has been hard on everyone in the family, but Malicki believes that out of her family she probably is the one who still has not grasped the loss completely. Grief is a hard concept to fully grasp for anyone who has firsthand experience with it.

“I’m always wishing something would have been different, I’m always dwelling on something I cannot change,” Malicki said. “It doesn’t get easier for me realizing anything could happen at anytime and knowing she will never be here again makes it even harder.”

No one lives forever, but no matter what, family is forever. Situations like the one that hit the Czaplewski-Malicki family can happen to any family at anytime. It is better to cherish something while they still have it than to grieve over something that is inevitable.

“She was a role model, she is my role model,” Malicki said.

Kathleen Ann Malicki’s legacy will forever be passed on through the entire Malicki-Czaplewski family.