PROSSER — Sebastian Castilleja does not talk like a teenager.
He does not begin sentences with “Um.” He does not refer to conflict as “a thing.” And he does not say how things are “like.”
He says how they are — in terms so stark and raw they cut through the emotional red tape of every audience.
The words the Prosser High School sophomore uses to describe life under his parents’ addictions has caused grown men at meetings to weep.
He discusses “trust issues,” shares how “domestic violence was a huge factor in my childhood” and clinically describes his emotions, borrowing words such as “abandoned,” “lost” and “embarrassed” from a family therapy template.
“It was hard growing up,” Sebastian says, so matter-of-factly you believe the 15-year-old indeed already has.
Last month, his words convinced judges to honor him with the 2013 Youth of the Year Award at the Prosser Boys & Girls Club. Read more.