At Joshua High School's graduation on June 6, 2013, valedictorian Remington Reimer moved away from his approved speech to talk about God and the U.S. Constitution. School officials switched off his microphone. He kept speaking.
The day after, his father met the principal, who said the school planned to discipline Reimer and to contact the U.S. Naval Academy, where he had been accepted, about his character. The story spread nationally within days.
The apology
Superintendent Fran Marek met Reimer and apologized. She wished him well at the academy and said the district had never meant to act on his acceptance. Reimer told the Crowley Star he had always believed the district would support him in the end, and thanked Marek and the school board.
Why big days show up on your skin
Graduation, a speech, an exam week: the biggest days tend to come with the most stress, and acne often flares right on time. Stress hormones such as cortisol can push oil glands to make more sebum and can feed the inflammation that turns a clogged pore into a red pimple.
A small study in Archives of Dermatology followed 22 university students through exam season. Their acne got worse during exams, and the students who reported the most stress had the biggest flare-ups (Chiu, Chon and Kimball, 2003). The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases lists stress among the things that can make acne worse.
| Before a big day | What it does | Why it matters for acne |
|---|---|---|
| Start a routine 6 to 8 weeks out | Gives treatments time to work | Most acne treatments need weeks, not days |
| Keep your sleep steady | Lowers stress load | Short sleep is linked with more breakouts |
| Do not pick the night before | Prevents a scab or mark | Picking pushes inflammation deeper |
If a pimple shows up anyway, this guide on how to get rid of pimples walks through what calms a spot fastest.