Most people with siblings are two to three years apart, which lets them grow up together, but that also means that they often don’t remember meeting each other. Luckily, for freshman Charlotte Candell, she remembers exactly when she met her brother, Kieran.
When Kieran was born, Charlotte was nine years old. Her memories of her brother are still fresh now that he is five and she is fourteen.
“He was in the NICU for the first two weeks, and my momma got sick, so we couldn’t go see him for the first week.”
While Kieran was not premature, he was a small baby and needed the extra support from the NICU, or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
“I feel terrible saying it, but looking at photos of him when he was little, he was scary.”
It was hard to see her newest family member in such turmoil.
“Going to see him [in the NICU] was … a really emotional time for all of us.”
Even though it was at times frightening and sad, she has good memories of his time in the NICU.
“I didn’t get to hold him until he was out of the NICU,” but being able to see her parents, especially her mom, hold him was special.
Hospital staff did their best to make things better.
“[The nurses] were all really nice, like they had these little cards on their incubators…with their names and with drawings of them.”
Today, Kieran is doing great. He and Charlotte spend a lot of time together.
“I watch him a lot [after school, and] we play video games together.” Their favorite game to play is Rayman Legends.
One thing about her brother bugs her, though.
“My brother is tall. He’s almost 4 feet.” Putting this into perspective, according to the CDC, 4 feet is the end range for a 6-year-old. This makes sense given that her father is 6’1.” Charlotte, however, follows her mom, who is 5’3.”
“I go to a lot of concerts, so I need to be tall,” says Candell. “I went to one, and they said they were 6’4 and he was right in front of me and my mom, and we’re like little munchkins.”
Despite being smaller in stature, Charlotte’s intelligence is high. Charlotte came to MECA to get her AA, planning ahead so that she can find success in her future.
“I like school, but I don’t want to be in school that long,” she explains. “I want to like focus on my major and then be done and work.”
In the future, she wants to have a career in the math or English fields, as those are her favorite subjects.
Candell’s math teacher, Crystal Guevara, is not shocked to hear this, however. “I have always seen English as being able to communicate and Math as the ability to think.”
She thinks combining these two subjects will allow for interesting future opportunities. “With both she might be able to be some sort of Engineer in Project Management.”
Guevara enjoys having Candell in her classroom. “She exudes confidence,” Guevara says,
“and is always willing to help other classmates when they need assistance.”
Her good friend Emmelynn Manuel, who met her in the second grade, likes that Charlotte is easygoing and that “Even if we don’t talk for a really long time, we just meet again and we’re friends again.”
She loves that Charlotte is “very charismatic.” She says, “A lot of people are always around her, I see, like want to be her friends and stuff.”
Guevara agrees with Manuel, explaining that people gravitate to her because “she can read you and help you at the same time. She is funny and outspoken in the best ways possible.”
Ultimately, Charlotte has been shaped by the experiences that she has had growing up. Being an older sibling, especially one with such a big age difference, makes sense for her maturity, intelligence, and charisma.
