Senior send-offs are so bittersweet. They’re both a celebration of the work and the people who made it happen, but also a person’s last words in The Hofstra Chronicle. It’s the culmination of four...

I have seen my name – Ann Catherine Hurley – on a gravestone. In fact, I have seen my name on two gravestones. Even though I never met my grandmother, “Mama Annie,” or my Aunt Katie, I was named...

For the first nine years of my life, it was always George and me. Our parents got divorced when we were toddlers, so it was just the two of us going back and forth throughout the week – a brother and...

Boarding the plane for my first international trip in over seven years was beyond exciting. I was most excited to try airplane food, as the only other flights I had been on were three hours long and, on...

For the last eight years of my life, I haven’t had a single painfree moment. On Sept. 17, 2018, I tore my ACL and meniscus during gym class and, since then, have struggled with constant knee pain and...

Youth, with its voracity, fire, spontaneity and liberty is usually driven by a search for belonging, meaning, purpose, self-discovery and even adventure. To pursue this search, it is important to have...

I have a small, plastic turtle figurine named Merlin – well, technically, I have three. They’re all exactly the same yet drastically different. You can’t really understand the whole story without...

When I was about four years old, I found my first love: the New York Yankees. It started out simple; my parents liked them, so I had to like them as well. When you are that young, you don’t exactly get...

When I was in third grade, I had a best friend whose mother was a rabbit breeder. My best friend would tell me all about the little bunnies she had at home and that some of them were for sale. When I had...

When I was in high school, I felt like the only person in my school who had genuinely no idea what they wanted to do with their life. While everyone around me was applying to colleges and writing their...

 In 2016, American rapper iLoveMemphis released “Lean and Dabb,” a song that shaped youth culture. The first verse starts with the iconic line, “Wake up in the morning then I dab.” With the rise...

A year and a half ago I graduated high school wearing a cap that said, “plant seeds and grow,” then gave a speech to my class of 400 people and our families about the skill of growth. I opened the...