I asked four North Rockland High School students whether they talk about their experiences, their worries, their fears about cancer with school people—psychologists, social workers, guidance counselors—or if they didn’t tell anybody at all and just kept things to themselves:

Nikki Esposito, 16: “I probably wouldn’t broadcast if someone I know or I had cancer, but I know I have my close friends and family and know they are my backbone. I would feel comfortable talking about that, they would comfort me or support me. Cancer is a very serious matter. I don’t feel comfortable sharing it with people.”

Raven Hopkins, 15: “Me and my close, close friends, we sit and have serious conversations, we talk about things that go out in the world. It’s a group of best friends, the four of us. When I was younger, I kept all my problems to myself. My feeling now is you vent your feelings.

Hopkins continued, “I tell my mom everything. If I ever have a concern, we can talk about it. If I’m going through a hard time, she’s going through it with me. It’s easy for me to share things with her, we’re so close. She has lost a lot of her friends and a lot of people (to cancer). I know that I can look up to her.”

Jared Rajchgod, 15: “I would definitely talk about it with my family, my mom and dad, if I had a problem. Even it’s kind of a scary thought, I was always comfortable asking them: Mom, do I have cancer?”