HoC: Nadine Hernandez
Humans Of Chaffey
Nadine Hernandez (left). Photo by Erin Butts
It is ten o’clock at night.
A mother puts her son down for bed, falling asleep two or three hours later (at 12 or 1 a.m.) At 5 a.m. it is time to feed her son and by 6 a.m. she is back to sleep until her mom, her biggest cheerleader and friend, wakes her up so they can have breakfast together.
At times it is hard to stay up, and even after one or two cups of coffee sometimes she still falls asleep.
Between feeding her son, working on assignments and having meetings with writers, her schedule is packed. Recently she has only been getting three to four hours of sleep while taking four classes, being a mother and being Editor in Chief of The Breeze.
“My days do feel overwhelming. Yes, I do cry at times...I just try to remind myself...it’s fine, you’ll be okay…” she says.
For Nadine Hernandez, hard work and late nights are nothing new. Nadine took five AP classes during her junior year of high school. After school she would ride the bus home, take a quick nap and be on her way out again. The bus would then drop her off two blocks from her destination and she would run to avoid being late for cross-country practice at school. After cross-country (which ended at seven or eight o’clock at night), her mom would drive to the school to pick her up and take her to soccer practice in Rancho Cucamonga. She would get home at eleven o’clock at night and start on homework, and she would not go to sleep until 2 or 3 a.m.
“I’m very well rounded when it comes to my education. I love school. School is my priority,” she explains.
Her parents play an important role in her outlook on school.
Although she was raised in a single parent household, Nadine was still in contact with her father.
He taught her the importance of school and told her, “When you pass away you want to be remembered for something. You don’t want to just die and everyone’s not even going to know because you never did anything with yourself.”
Nadine held on to those words and made education a priority in her life. She learned from both her mother and father and strived to live in a way that would make her parents proud.
Nadine finished her junior year of high school with a 3.8 GPA. She did all of this while struggling with depression.
The following year, her depression heightened as a result of a toxic relationship and she went to the hospital. During this time, she went through what she calls a “punk rocker phase” and she felt guilty for struggling with depression. As the only child in her household she did not want to overwhelm her mother, so it was difficult to find someone to talk to.
Still, Nadine managed to keep up with all of her classes, even though she was less involved in extracurricular activities and mentions that she only passed one AP exam. Her passion for writing also grew during this time.
“I think a lot of people would find you relatable and inspiring,” I told her.
At Chaffey College, Nadine’s high quality work ethic and determination have not stopped.
She brought those characteristics, along with her passion for writing, all the way to The Breeze. A friend from elementary school who happened to be attending Chaffey at the time informed her of The Chaffey Review, a program under The Breeze that allows you to publish literary art.
After that she met Michelle Dowd, who introduced her to the newsroom at The Breeze.
She had no clue what a pitch was -- it was all new to her.
“I had no idea what it was. I didn’t understand the concept of a pitch...I had no idea - believe me when I say I had no idea...I was going into this just...blank,” she laughs.
But after one semester in journalism, Nadine Hernandez became Editor in Chief of The Breeze.
Nadine expects to graduate from Chaffey College this year. She is double majoring in English and Journalism and hopes to teach English to high-schoolers in underserved communities. She also wants to work for a magazine company and teach journalism classes.
Why does she do it? Why does she endure the late hours, the busy schedule, and the tears?
Nadine explains, “I use school as an escape, in a sense. I like to overwhelm myself with a whole bunch of classes and responsibilities so that I don’t have time to think about those negative thoughts. That’s what I’ve been doing and that’s what I do now and it works pretty efficiently.”
Throughout the years, school has been a tool that has helped Nadine as opposed to hindering her. The satisfaction of learning something new and accomplishing more than what she thought she could, keeps her motivated.
So she keeps going, day by day, assignment after assignment, and in many ways this is her outlet and her therapy.