My name is Sydney Truax and I am a senior here at El Paso High. I was born and raised in El Paso. I was born on Feb. 27 and am currently 17 years of age. I have two brothers and live with both my parents and my seven dogs and 15 chickens in the lower valley of El Paso.

When I was at the age of four I was diagnosed with a cancer called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and underwent four years of chemo therapy. I lost all my hair, underwent several surgeries and faced weight fluctuation and scarring. I missed tons of school when I was at the hospital and when I did go I was so embarrassed that I didn't look like the rest of the kids.

My hair was gone and sometimes I was chubby from the medicine, sometimes I was skinny or other times I had to go to school with tubes coming out of me. Due to this my brothers and I had an abnormal childhood and grew up in the hospital. Most of our significant milestones as children happened there. I am currently eight years in remission and am 100 percent cancer free.

My home school is not El Paso High, it is actually Ysleta High School. My father was a teacher and coach for football and track here last year, so I came here so I could be at the same school as my father. I attended Wiggs Middle School and Dolphin Terrace Elementary school where my mom teaches kindergarten.

I am apart of the newspaper (The Tatler) and the broadcast team. In previous years, I was in journalism, newspaper, and yearbook. I  got a taste of writing and photography and I really enjoyed it. I think because of this love of writing and photography, I can further the newspaper by publishing more often and with great quality photos and writing content.