Laeticia Cerdas in her own words.

Favorite place you have lived? For me they’re all steppingstones where I’ve met valuable people. When you move to a new place there’s a honeymoon period where it’s just perfect in comparison to the last one, but as the years go on, you start seeing the negatives and you get to a point where you crave the feeling of moving again. My favorite has always been my now. How many languages can you speak? Three! French is my mother tongue and was my primary language until I was 10 years old. My dad spoke to me in Spanish, so I’ve understood it, but since I never lived in a Spanish-speaking country, it’s been my weakest one. I initially learned English when I was 4 and was thrown into British kindergarten, where I didn’t speak a word for six weeks and then randomly started speaking perfectly with the regional accent (the kid brain is crazy). Favorite beauty product? The Clarins waterline pencil. I’ve been using it since freshman year and have tried other ones, but always come back to my first. Favorite place to shop? I love shopping online, but usually don’t end up buying anything. I most often shop at Marshall’s. In Georgia, the nearest mall was 45 minutes away, so the Marshall’s in the strip mall was our best option. My sister, my mom, my grandma, and I have all bought way too much at Marshall’s. Favorite book? This is a hard question because in hindsight, some of my favorite books ever might not be so good, but my middle school self was in love with them. “The Hunger Games” series was what started my love for reading on another level. It was my first peek into fantasy/dystopian. I read “Divergent” after that and have struggled to read a contemporary since them because of how much I loved it. Favorite subject in school? I would say history. English is way up there, too. It’s always felt like a story being told to me and I love world history where I get to learn about different cultures. I like how it isn’t an applicable concept like math or science. History doesn’t change, so if you have the facts down then you’re set. Anyone in my family can tell you I love dropping random history facts and “did you knows”. Least favorite subject in school? Math. In elementary school, I was always the last one to finish my math tests. I rarely felt like I was younger than my peers, but with math I usually did. I’m not a logical thinker either, so I wouldn’t look back at the logistics of my answer and always end up making careless mistakes. Favorite kind of workout? I love long bike rides or runs at a medium intensity level. Interval training, while I know is necessary, really isn’t as enjoyable to me because I can’t think for as long since I’m focusing on speed. I would say my ideal workout day would be some resistance training in the morning and a long run in the afternoon where I can just completely immerse myself in my own thoughts. Favorite way to have coffee? Hot with oat milk in the morning, iced in the afternoon (if I have one, which is becoming a bad habit of mine). Not too much milk, though, and I still like it bitter. I’m not a sweet drink person.

What is on your bucket list? I want to run a half marathon one day. Bleach my hair. Take more photos. Take my mom and grandma on a huge shopping spree when I can. Zipline again (probably my most fun experience ever). Get good at rollerblading. Live on an island or near a beach. Become a polyglot. Live in a French-speaking country again. Hike a mountain. If you could have one superpower, what would it be? To speak every language. Imagine how many people I could talk to. That would be so cool. If you had asked me this two years ago, I would’ve told you shapeshifting or speaking to animals. What is your personal motto? Everything happens for a reason. That hard time in my life happened when it did because I had support from my family at that time and learned to deal with it. Imagine if it had happened when I was alone in college. We almost moved to Texas and Massachusetts and California but none of those happened because that’s not what was planned for us and that’s OK. I’m viewing college admissions the same way. Advice for others dealing with change. Don’t look back. You’re in a new chapter in your life. Are you really going to go back and read the same page you just finished because you’re scared of what might happen? No, of course not. It might be uncomfortable at first, but you’ll see the story doesn’t end when the chapter does. Just keep on looking forward and embrace change.