Left with more than just a passion

When people are asked what defines them, that can be a hard question to answer. Especially as a teenager, how can you know what makes you unique? Is it a sport? A personality trait? A hobby? Music? But some people know exactly who they are and can easily come up with the answer. For Katie Glazbrook, senior, that answer is relatively simple. Her answer comes from one of the hardest losses a person can experience, especially as a senior in high school.

“The biggest challenge in my life was losing my dad. He was my best friend, music partner, mentor, and inspiration. Moving forward with my music, school, college, traditions, and just life in general without him has been the most heart wrenching experience of my life,” Glazbrook said. “It’s still impossible for me to wrap my mind around the fact that I’ll be doing it for the rest of my life. I miss him every day in every possible way.”

Glazbrook lost her dad on April 13 last year. Though, from an early age she bonded with him through one of the things that matters most to her: music.

“My dad has always been into music and had been writing music and amassing his music collection years before I was born. So many of my memories from childhood are of listening to music in the car with him,” Glazbrook said. “My favorite memories though are from the nights when I’d sneak down to the basement after bedtime to sit and ad-lib lyrics while he played his newest concoction on the guitar. It’s those nights and car rides that drive me to make music today.”

That love of music Glazbrook’s dad had passed onto her, but also managed to gradually become reflected in others’ lives who spent time around her during her childhood.

“I don’t really say this a lot, but her parents raised me. They taught me discipline and love and all these wonderful values that I still carry around with me today,” Marissa Drake, senior and one of Katie Glazbrook’s oldest friends, said. “I swear that I got my love [of] wonderful rock music from James when I would walk into their house and it would just be blasting in the kitchen. Growing up around Katie meant that I liked music whether or not I actually did. There was always something to listen to, whether it was her singing or an actual song, it was never empty or silent around Katie.”

Even now, Glazbrook has stayed with her passion for music despite her loss. She’s let it be her rock and the thing that “is vital to [her] (sane) survival.” But music isn’t the only thing that defines her. 

“I’m definitely an optimist. I see the best in people and situations and try my best to help others do the same. I’m definitely the ‘mom friend’ but in what I perceive as a fun way because I’ll do the crazy-fun things with you but I’ll make sure it’s done as safely as possible or at the very least be prepared for if/when something goes wrong,” Glazbrook said. “I [also] pride myself on being a kind and caring individual, someone people can feel safe being their genuine self around.”

This self proclaimed mom-friend has definitely displayed that trait around her friends, as reflected in memories Joshua Aronson, senior and close friend of Glazbrook, has.

“One time we were driving with my younger brother in the backseat and he tells us that he’s not wearing a seatbelt,” Aronson said. “So Katie and I both immediately go into parent mode and say ‘put your seatbelt on’ at the same time.”

This “mom” trait Glazbrook has is not the only way her friends see her. Drake says she also admires how Glazbrook carries herself as a whole.

“When we had more time on our hands, we would lay down and look at stars together and it would just be so relaxing that I would forget about all of my worries. There’s so many times that Katie’s picked me up from rock bottom and has made me feel like all of the trials and tribulations that were put through our life is worth it. That no matter what there’s always something to gain from experiences, good or bad. Katie is someone who encourages you to be the best person that you can be,” Drake said. “She’s not afraid of other people’s opinions and is just so stable in her self image that it’s influenced how I look at myself.” 

Glazbrook’s friends see the authentic version of herself and she says that she has always stayed true to what her dad told her when she was younger “that if anyone ever asked ‘who do you think you are?’ to respond ‘I’m Katie Glazbrook’ and to be proud of the person” she is. To this day she has maintained that ideal, and even though she plans to go to college at Loyola University Chicago and double major in secondary education in history, she says she will always continue with her music.

“I’ve always wanted to be a musician,” Glazbrook said. “And while I’m not going to college for music, my plan allows me to go into a field (teaching) that allows me to have weekends, summers, and evenings ‘off’ to focus on my music career, which is still my ultimate passion and career goal.”

Glazbrook’s friends have the utmost confidence in her career as a musician, and according to Drake, she sees Glazbrook making it far with her music.

“She’s literally going to be a star someday. I swear, if you have a chance to ever listen to her music you should. From day one she’s always been so talented, she’s an amazing dancer and a damn good singer,” Drake said. “There’s times that I’d just sit and listen to her sing in complete silence because seriously, her voice is so beautiful.”

So, true to her dad’s hopes, Galzbrook is staying herself and pursuing her passions and dreams. Even if history isn’t her main dream, she still loves history as she has what she deems a “chronic curiosity.” But that’s not the only thing she learned. The last thing she learned from her dad is something she plans to also live by, carrying it through college and through the rest of life.

“The best lesson I learned so far is to love those around you in the present because the future is never guaranteed,” Glazbrook says. “Although the hole in my heart will always hurt, I refuse to let the pain define me. I define ‘me’.”