Wow...just wow. That and the dog story.
So maybe Syd did voluntarily disappear. This would not be the only case of an adult child deciding to go no contact and their own terms.
I wish that she did voluntarily disappear. I believe from her Medium posts and reddit posts as well as the UNC Mindfulness video that she was expected to be an academic star, but I believe she knew her success was being sabotaged. I read in her reddit posts, for instance, that she was upset that she failed the high stakes AP (Advanced Placement) Calculus exam, not once, but twice. She had a very high stress load of AP classes. On reddit she said she took a total of 8 AP classes.
AP exams are given in Week 1 and Week 2 on specific dates that are announced by the College Board about a year in advance. These exams are very difficult and high stress. The scores you get on these exams, particularly those taken a junior year, can really determine if you get into the colleges that you want to get into or not.
In the back of my mind, I was wondering how Sydney could have failed the 3 AP tests she talks about failing in reddit, including the Calculus exam twice.
Then just a couple of days ago, the parents posted a vacation shot from three years ago on Find Sydney West of Sydney her junior year and apparently the weekend between Week 1 and Week 2, they took a family trip/vacation even though the intense, high stress AP Calculus exam was scheduled by the College Board to be taken early in the week on Tuesday morning during Week 2. Who knows what other exams she had to take in just a few days during Week 2? There is a caption from the mother that she is taking a break from AP studying.
I feel so sorry for her that it sounds like she was not allowed to have her time to herself to devote to studying for these AP exams. Instead it sounds like her family made her go on a trip the weekend between Week 1 and Week 2 of the exams.
Now when I think about that UNC Mindfulness video, it takes on an entirely different meaning. Obviously, taken in context with what I now know, I'm really sad. It sounds like a lot of the time she could have devoted to her studies, being that she was such a driven person, were probably taken away from her. Now it makes sense to me when she was quoted in the Carrboro High newspaper in her volleyball article that she didn't have time for practically anything including hobbies, etc.
Why could the parents not have scheduled the family trip the weekend after Week 2 when all the AP exams were completed? Why disrupt their daughter's studying by taking a trip the weekend between Week 1 and Week 2? Couldn't they have waited 7 short days to take this trip in order to maximize the chance for Sydney to succeed and do well on all her AP exams? Why increase the anxiety and stress for Sydney by having some trip scheduled right in the middle of her trying to take her AP exams? No wonder she had anxiety and depression. Faced with these type of no-win situations, I certainly would have struggled.
So if she did manage to voluntarily disappear, hopefully her time would now be her own. And she could choose to use her time to pursue whatever she wanted on her own terms.