UC Student Spot - Sylvia Remiz  UC Student Spot - Sylvia Remiz
The Influence of Love  When Sylvia Remiz [BA 2016] was eleven
years old her mother passed away from cancer. “I prayed for mom
that year while she was sick, my family is Catholic so I was
saying my rosaries. I was let down and made a decision to not
believe in God after that. If it didn’t work He is obviously not
real.”   Sylvia took her new beliefs to religion teachers and
friends but “no one was ever proving me wrong, so [I thought]
‘obviously I’m right.’”  Siblings, cousins and peers influenced
her to turn to alcohol and drugs. She felt free to choose what
seemed “cool” and led friends into making similar choices.
Sylvia describes this time as “being able to do whatever I
wanted socially, and getting to do all these new things that
satisfied worldly desires. I was able to break the rules.”  In
grade eleven she met Curtis Hartshorn [BA 2015] at a party.
After they began to date Curtis experienced a sudden spiritual
awakening and once again Sylvi