BreAnna Pence, Redmond High.

Editor’s note: This is part of a four-week series of profiles.

Juliet Bloking

It’s easy to take things for granted. Ridgeview High School senior Juliet Bloking knows that just walking across the stage at graduation this week is something she can feel proud of.

Juliet, 18, grew up primarily in Redmond — she went to Tom McCall Elementary and Sisters Middle School before a brief stint in Hawaii. She came back to Redmond as a sophomore, but was enrolled in online classes before returning in person to Ridgeview High School as a junior and senior.

Juliet had good reason to take online classes during her sophomore year. That year, she got “super sick,” she said.

She couldn’t stop vomiting, dropped 30 pounds off her already-slight 100-pound frame, struggled to even go up the stairs without getting dizzy or passing out. But while she knew something was wrong with her body, she said her doctors misdiagnosed her with an eating disorder — they thought she was lying. Only her mom believed her, she said.

“I knew I wasn’t lying,” she said. “But I started to think, ‘What if I’m just crazy? What if I’m making it up in my head?’”

Turns out, Juliet had Addison’s Disease, which prevents the adrenal glands from functioning. The adrenal glands produce cortisol — without it, your body starts to shut down, including sometimes triggering a heart attack or stroke. A week in the ICU at St. Charles Bend left Juliet with a diagnosis and medicines to control her illness, but it’s a lifelong struggle she’ll have to keep fighting.

But it hasn’t kept Juliet from achieving her goals. This year, she’s taken a particular interest in Ridgeview’s certified nursing assistant class — she took the exam to earn her certification last week. Juliet plans to move back to Hawaii and work as a CNA before going back to school to get her nursing degree.

BreAnna Pence

When BreAnna Pence receives her diploma at Redmond High School’s graduation this week, it will be the result of true grit.

For years, BreAnna attended Connections Academy, an online public school program.

When BreAnna’s father died three years ago, her grades, in her words, “plummeted.”

The 18-year-old said trying to complete her work at home on a screen became increasingly difficult.

“There was just so much going on,” she said. “It was hard to do work on the computer, and I am very good at procrastinating. It’s easy for me to stare at a screen for hours and get nothing done.”

After BreAnna realized she was failing school, she and her mom decided online school wasn’t working and that she needed to attend in person in order to catch up. She adapted quickly.

“I like getting into routines, and once I got used to everything here, it was easy to do my work,” she said. She credits her teachers with helping her stay focused.

The school counselors really helped me get on the right track, but once I got going it was easy to finish,” she said.

But BreAnna did the hard work herself — she said she’s good at math, and she loved her science classes, especially forensics.

She’s not sure what she wants to do in the future, though she’ll take courses at Central Oregon Community College in the fall.

“I basically failed,” she said. “But I managed to come out of that situation to be able to graduate in three years.”

And she has advice for her classmates. “Even if you’re at a low point, it’s still possible to claw back up to where you need to be and where you want to be,” she said. “Stay focused and get your work turned in. If you get things done, it’ll be a lot easier.”