Trials—we all have them. Whether it be an upcoming test that one has to cram for, or tryouts for a team or club, everyone has problems in their lives.

But some have it worse than others.

Off your rocker

Over the past few months, many people who roam the very halls of Antioch have faced far more extreme difficulties than their classmates, each of varying degrees. One person who used to walk the halls is former ACHS student Devan Babcock. Although he should be a senior here this year, some of his decisions have contributed to his absence in the hallways.

Right in the middle of one summer afternoon, Babcock broke into Lakes Community High School, in hopes of stealing some expensive technology equipment, and then selling and making a profit off of it. However, Babcock was unsuccessful in his attempts and was arrested.

“I didn’t resist arrest,” Babcock said. “They took me to the Lake Villa Police Department and the detective interrogated me. They asked me if I wanted to talk to my mom, to which I said yes. I talked to my mom and she told me to tell them everything and to cooperate completely. I then told them everything. They were happy to have had a family that cooperated with the police.”

Although he describes his experience as being “not that scary,” Babcock still learned a lot from his mistake that day.

“When you make a mistake, change your future,” Babcock said. “There’s nothing you can do about your past but to make better decisions in the future, and that’s what I’m doing.”

For Babcock, he already feels as though he is out of the woods.

“[To me, being out of the woods] means that I accept that I made a mistake and I want to share my experience so that others might not make the same mistakes as me,” Babcock said.

Despite what happened, Babcock has already faced the reality of his faults and feels as though he has overcome them.

But not everyone is able to overcome their adversity and be at peace as easily as Babcock.

For a different, current ACHS student, his trial would last for years.

On a wing and a prayer

It was late 2013. Senior Quinn Landl finally thought that he and his family were out of the woods. After suffering with cancer for a year, the tumor that his mom had went away, and she was seemingly cured.

But that relief only lasted for a few months.

Fast-forward to mid-May 2014.

Landl’s mom discovered another tumor on her body and decided to go get it checked. The results were what anyone would dread to hear.

The cancer was back.

“You would think that could never happen to you,” Landl said. “That your family is invincible. But it’s not. It can happen to everyone.”

Landl’s mother began many treatments, starting up chemotherapy and radiation.

“We would always keep our hopes up,” Landl said. “My mom would never let us have despair. Even when she was at her worst points, she would always be smiling and laughing and telling us everything would be fine. Even when my dad would be breaking down, she’d be telling him it’s fine and that she’ll be fine.”

However, despite how much the Landl family hoped, the treatment just never really did anything.

After two more agonizing years of treatments and appointments and more treatments and more appointments, the Landl family was hit with the harsh truth that nothing would help their mother. She was checked into hospice care so that, although not ideal, she could at least be a little more comfortable before she passed away.

But the weeks that followed were anything but comfortable.

The cancer spread to Landl’s mother’s bones, breaking her bones and causing her pain if she tried to move. She lost feeling in her legs and couldn’t move below her waist. She began to have trouble breathing, and a machine had to be brought in to breathe for her.

She had stopped responding. And a week later, she passed away.

Even after watching his mother struggle with cancer for years, and then losing her, Landl isn’t bitter or angry about the events that have transpired. For him, letting his emotions out has been a coping mechanism, a way to come to peace with what happened.

“Talking to people helps a lot,” Landl said. “I tried [keeping my emotions in] at first, and I just got really angry all the time and I thought everything was against me. Then I started talking with my friends and my family and I just felt a weight go off of my shoulders.”

Not everyone is able to come to terms with a loss like that so easily. Their mother’s death hit Landl’s brother hard. He was much closer to their mom, and is still angry about her passing. As for Landl’s dad, he is also taking it hard. Having lost his own father just weeks after losing his wife, Landl’s father has not gotten much better.

“I can’t do anything to help him,” Landl said. “I’m just trying to keep a positive attitude around him.”

And keeping a positive attitude is something Landl constantly tries to do, just as his mother did when she was still going through treatments.

Although losing his mother did make him more wary, it also made Landl more thankful for those around him.

“I’m a lot more grateful to my friends and my family because I know that I’m really never out of the woods, and that nobody is,” Landl said. “When my mom died, I realized that I can lose anyone I care about at any moment.”

He recommends to live life to the fullest, and be happy with the decisions made in life.

“Don’t take the people you love for granted,” Landl said. “You don’t know when you’ll lose them. Anything can happen in the blink of an eye, so just keep your hopes up.”

As one family struggles with the passing of a loved one, another family in Antioch is just beginning.

On pins and needles

Rewind to May: a young girl had an inkling that something was off with herself. Taking a test just to be sure, her suspicions were confirmed.

Junior Tiffany Koerper was pregnant.

“I really didn’t know how to feel,” Koerper said. “I didn’t cry or panic or anything. I was just shocked it was real. I wouldn’t say I was excited at that point, but I knew things were going to change real fast, and I was okay with that.”

Koerper informed her boyfriend of her pregnancy shortly after finding out, happy to discover that he was excited and would be supportive of her. She also told her two best friends about the pregnancy right away, knowing that she would need their help and assistance along the way.   

“I was scared at first to tell them because I did not want to be judged, but I thought about it and realized they love me and support me in everything else, so why wouldn’t they support me now?” Koerper said. “And they did. They helped me through so much in the beginning.”

But even though her friends knew almost immediately, just as any soon-to-be teen mom would be, Koerper was scared to tell her parents. She kept it a secret from them for months, which she doesn’t recommend.

“If anyone is pregnant or becomes pregnant, I do not suggest waiting three months to tell your parents,” Koerper said. “You need to get to the doctor right away.”

As these concerns ran through her head, Koerper’s friends encouraged, and even slightly pressed for her to tell her parents. She eventually gave in, and turned to her mom first.

“I straight up said, ‘Mom, I’m pregnant,’ and she said, ‘I’m happy, now let’s eat,’” Koerper said.

Koerper’s mom was also a mother at a young age, and this is the same response that Koerper’s grandpa gave when her mom told him.

But then came the more difficult confrontation: her father. Not wanting her mother to feel uncomfortable around her dad, or find it necessary to lie to him, Koerper knew she needed to tell her dad that same night, too.

“My dad and I don’t have a great relationship, so it really scared me to tell him,” Koerper said. “I told him what I told my mom and he just said, ‘I’m going for a walk,’ and he called his best friend and they talked for awhile, and then he came to my room to talk to me. He took it a lot better than I had thought he would.”

Even though telling her family was one of the hardest things Koerper has had to deal with so far, she is glad she confronted them, as everyone is extremely encouraging of her.

“All my family is super excited for our baby to come into the world and I never thought I’d have so much support from them,” Koerper said. “It really is a great feeling.”

But although she now had the support of her family, Koerper was still not out of the woods. The next issues she faced were the attention and the criticism. Koerper has never been one to enjoy being in the spotlight, and once word got out about her pregnancy, more and more people began talking about her. Nevertheless, she tries to block out these negative comments and not let them get to her.

“I will have to deal with the stares and the negative comments for the rest of my life, and I am willing to do that for my baby,” Koerper said.

Koerper still has many more struggles she will have to face, such as financial problems and education. While balancing school and a job won’t be easy, it is something Koerper is determined to do so that she can give her baby the best life possible; however, Koerper realizes that the hardships won’t end when her baby is born, and that a whole new set of challenges will make their way into her life. Similarly to Landl, Koerper does not feel as though she is out of the woods yet, or that she ever will be in the near future.

“Being a parent is hard in general, but being a teen parent is even harder,” Koerper said.

Everyone faces adversity, no matter how trivial or drastic their troubles. Both Landl and Koerper know they are not out of the woods, and will not be anytime soon, and even though Babcock feels as though he is out of the woods, he recognizes there are many difficulties still to come.

In life, we’re never truly out of the woods, because just as one problem dissolves, another one will surface shortly after.