As seventh grade approached, Chris had high hopes which would quickly be torn away. In December, two of his family members died in one week, and Chris did a straight downfall into depression. He became cold and severe. He got into many fights. He felt hopeless all the time. Chris then became suicidal. He had this to say: "I just thought that if I ended my life, all the madness would be over. I talked with my pastor and said that if you commit suicide you'd go to hell. It's a sin. I still wanted to die because I was thinking 'how could hell be worse than this?'". All Chris' friends seemed to become aware of his condition, and tried to steer clear of him. All but one. The one friend that stood by him was Corey Havard. Chris was then pulled out of his depression, by " his family, Corey, and God." He approached 8th Grade with his head high, and he enjoyed it very much.
Then came the beginning of the life changing years known as High School. Chris found that High School is some of the most fun anybody will ever have. Freshman year from 2002-2003 was very entertaining and informative. First semester he found that P.E. is much more difficult than it was in Middle School. But as first semester just started getting routine for Chris, he found he had to make a trip back home to California. The person who had rented out Chris' old stomping grounds had left his childhood home in horrible condition, and it was up to Chris and his parents to fix it. "That was a cool time for me," Chris said. "One, I got to leave school for a week. Two, I got to set foot in a house that I hadn't even seen since we moved out of it. I was really excited." Chris and parents repaired his house, and by the time they returned, he struggled getting caught up with the flow of Lynden. But eventually, he succeeded, and his freshman year was close to an end.
Near the end of the 2002-2003 year, Chris regretted not running for Freshman Class President at the end of eith grade. He decided it was time to remedy that, so he campaigned for the office of Sophomore Class President for the 2003-2004 school year. Legs shaking, with speech in hand, Chris spoke for about ten minutes to the entire class of 2006. When all was said and done, Chris emerged victorious from that election.
Summer 2003 was very influential. Chris got word right at the end of the year that his grandfather was not feeling well, so literally the day after school ended, Chris and his mom were on their way down to California. His grandparents did not know they were making the trip, and were thrilled when they discovered that Chris and his mother traveled 1,500 miles to see them. Eventually, all was well, and Chris returned to Lynden from yet another trip to the "home state".
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