H-F alumni Jarad Higgins, known to the public as Juice Wrld, passed away the morning of Dec. 8.
CNN reported the rapper suffered a medical emergency shortly after arriving to Midway International Airport. Higgins died shortly after at a nearby hospital, according to police.
The whole H-F community has felt the impact of the death of Higgins. Many current and past H-F students hitting social media describing what a fantastic friend and classmate Higgins was.
“We were classmates who shared conversations to make the class go by faster. He was always humble and was always working to perfect his craft. When he blew up I knew he deserved this and that God was going to bless him. I’m so proud of him and honored that I knew him,” class of 2017 alumni Miani Bolden said.
He was light hearted and always made people feel welcomed. When his older friends were going off to college he never failed to stay in contact with them.
“He was super caring, he had a really huge heart and he loved the people close to him hard,”class of 2015 alumni RJ Peacock said. “When I went away to school my freshman year he was one of the only people from back home that called to check in on me.”
Not only have his past classmates been remembering him fondly his past teachers have also.
“He was one of the nicest people and I genuinely mean that,” teacher Matt Holdren said. ”He was always positive and always believed in himself even when people didn’t.”
Both of Higgins past teachers agree that his character was one of his biggest attributes.
“He was a pleasure to have in class. I always had a good time with Jarad, he was always uplifting and positive and was a good kid, we’ll definitely miss him,” teacher Anthony Kruse said.
Juice Wrld was a rapper and singer who got his start rapping in the hallways of H-F and challenging his friends to rap battles.
He first shared his music with the world on the music platform SoundCloud before signing to a record label and finding major success.
Juice Wrld signed with Interscope Records in 2018, shortly after this his career exploded.
His emo-trap hit “Lucid Dreams,” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, his debut studio album “Goodbye & Good Riddance” which peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and after collaborating with Future on the mixtape “WRLD on Drugs”, which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200.
His ambition allowed him to grow into the musician we know him to be today. Even back in high school his classmate recognized that.
“He was very introspective, and often talked about what he wanted to do and how he wanted to change the world around him,” Peacock said. “He had high aspirations and gave a lot of thought and energy into trying to fulfill them.”
Higgins wasn’t just a rapper who made it big, he was a classmate, student, friend and most importantly a kind spirit who walked the halls of H-F
His struggles with substance abuse appeared in his lyrics and he was known for being candid about them.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact your H-F guidance counselor or social worker.
Though Jarad Higgins is the most popular student we have lost, he isn’t the only one we have lost recently. There have been a total of three deaths to hit the H-F community this school year, including Cleonte Henderson and Patricia Bailey.
Our condolences are with all of the families of the H-F alumni that have passed.