Guy Ginsberg sports editor
In the heat of college acceptances and rejections, when stress levels are high and many seniors begin to see their futures shaping before their eyes, senior Cathie Leon had a message for those who didn’t necessarily receive acceptance letters from their first-choice universities.
This is the message of Leon, who posted this photo and statement on her Facebook profile on Saturday, May 2. The post has since garnered over 100 likes and many comments in support of Leon’s message.

Highlights: You wrote, “Not being accepted into a certain college or any college does not make you any less of a person.” What prompted you to post this?
Cathie Leon: As seniors start getting responses from the colleges they applied to, they tend to focus on the rejections. Most of my friends were rejected from the colleges that they wanted to go to and started feeling like they weren’t good enough.
Highlights: What do you think is the most important thing to remember throughout the college admissions process?
Leon: Being rejected from a school you wanted to go to is not the end of the world. It just takes you on a different course than what you thought you were going to take. Being rejected anywhere should not make you feel degraded or bad about yourself, and it’s easy to forget that, especially when other people are getting into that college.
Highlights: In the same post, you wrote “Let’s enjoy senior year while it lasts.” How would you recommend those students who are stressed about college acceptances and rejections do that?
Leon: Instead of focusing on the negatives like your rejections, just know that most kids can’t even apply to those schools and don’t have the same opportunities as you do. So knowing that just keep that in mind and enjoy being with your friends and just knowing that we’re almost done. You won’t have to worry about that anymore and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you!
Leon will be attending CSUN next fall.