SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT: Andrew Amen

By Willa Moffatt,
Bluedevilhub.com Editor–

Senior Andrew Amen is known around Davis High campus as the kid carrying a loaf of bread (sourdough, to be exact), and on cross-country as the kid who ran without shoes. Amen has struggled with consistently attending school and keeping his GPA up, but in his final year of high school he is looking to change things around.

Amen was born in Davis but quickly moved to Woodland, and then all the way to New Orleans. Soon after his parents separated, Amen moved back to California with his father, while his mother left for Arizona. The last time Amen saw her was when he visited as a 5-year-old.

Back in California, Amen lived with his dad, stepmom and half-brother. In the summer of 2013, his parents decided to adopt another kid, who was a relative of his stepmom, a 3-year old named Kylie.

“From the moment I saw her she was the best thing ever, and I spent all my time with her. She was awesome, and everything was really good,” Amen said.

Even though his GPA was below the requirement to participate in a sport, Amen was able to join the cross-country team due to a one-time waiver. However, he did not keep up with the required paper work, and in his junior year he was dropped from the team.

In the winter of sophomore year, Amen began skipping school and skipping cross-country practice. “I went on an average of two days a week, and it got really bad, I almost had to go to court,” Amen said.

The following summer, his father and stepmom decided to divorce, and during that time Amen says he began experimenting with drugs.

“I want to say it was to get the curiosity out of my system, but I really don’t think it was that,” he said. “Like things were going bad, but then I realized one night like, ‘no, no more,’ and I don’t do that anymore.”

After the divorce, his family had to give Kylie back up for adoption.

“My dad said he didn’t want her to grow up with a family that was broken […] so she’s been gone for a year now. She turned five the 25th of September,” Amen said. He has not had contact with her since the divorce.

“She was really, really attached to us so we’re not allowed to stay in touch with her. To this day we get emails from the new parents,” he said. “She still asks where we are. Hopefully she’ll stop that soon because I don’t want her to think that her whole life. It would be really nice to see her again; it just wouldn’t be the same.” 

Junior year began with Amen ditching school again.

“It was just a really, really bad time. I couldn’t get out of bed in the mornings. Everything was always achy, I would just lay around […] I was doing that for the whole of junior year–showing up for a few weeks, not showing up for a few weeks,” Amen said. “I didn’t want to not show up, I’d much rather be with friends, but I just couldn’t [do it].”

This year, however, Amen is focused on attending school. He cannot rejoin cross-country due to his low GPA, but he says that the desire to go back to doing sports is reason enough to remain on track.

“It’s important to me,” he said. “I miss it, seeing all the people, going to all the meets and having fun.”

Amen attributes this new motivation in part to getting in contact with his biological mother.

“We started emailing […] getting in contact with my mom again, my real mom, for the first time in 12 years,” Amen said. “Now I go to school, we talk a lot, she talks about things I’ve been missing out on, things I don’t know about. I ask her a lot of questions.”

Amen’s plans following high school are still up in the air, but he is considering joining the Navy, and knows that college will not be his immediate path.

He also would like to meet with his mom, though he is still uncertain if he will be prepared.

“I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know if I can handle it, I just can’t stand up to it,” Amen said.