Mahlia Chapman – Marcus Gunn Jaw Winking Syndrome and blue birth mark

“I have Marcus Gunn [Jaw= Winking] syndrome, so when I chew my eye twitches,” junior Mahlia Chapman said. “It’s the same eye that my birthmark’s on so everything’s just on the same side. It’s a bad placement. People just thought I was getting beat on. My mom would tell me a bunch of times they would have to bring out pictures because they’re not gonna listen to a baby. I have my background as pictures of me and my mom as a baby so then I could just be like I didn’t get beat up or I forgot to put makeup on my other eye. I wear glasses so to notice it you really have to be looking at me, but sometimes it’s kind of odd when people kind of point it out. It’s not that bad I mean, I forget it’s there until it’s brought up the same thing with my birthmark. I feel now I definitely like my birthmark more than I did before. Now I like it like, who else has a blue birthmark?”

Raymond Mills – Pes Planus
(flat feet)

“I found out [be]cause my mom said that I would walk funny and then whenever I would play basketball, it would also hurt,” sophomore Raymond Mills said. “[When] I was playing sports, it hurt like my feet running. [To fix it] I would wear an ankle brace and I wear shoes that are for people with flat feet.”

Elias Williams – Fissured tongue

“My whole life, my tongue was one of the first things people noticed about me when I was talking to them,” senior Elias Williams said. “They would always just stare at my tongue instead of looking at me [be]cause I used to talk with my mouth open. It’s something everybody knows I have, but everybody was asking me how I got it, but I don’t remember getting there, but it was like this when I gained consciousness. It feels like a mountain [when I] rub my finger across it.”

Lila Svoboda – Poliosis

“When I was younger, I didn’t really know it was,” senior Lila Svoboda said. “ When I started getting my haircut, they said I have some gray hair. Kids at school would say ‘Did you put tinsel in your hair?’ I asked my mom about it and she said that on her side [of the family] people have always been getting gray hairs early. As I was growing up, I got more and more and people are always pointing it out. When I was younger, I was a little insecure about it just because I didn’t know what it was and it’s not like a common thing. But, I don’t really care because it doesn’t affect me at all. If I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t know that’s a thing people have. I’m not insecure about it, it just makes me, me.”