S119 - Guercio, Julia

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Name: Julia Rosalie Guercio
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Grade: 12th
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Swimming, baseball, mathematics, cooking, musical theatre, singing and listening to music

Appearance: Julia stands at an above average 5’7” with a youthful face and somewhat clear skin. Between good posture and clever wardrobe decisions she is capable of looking several inches taller and years older when she wants. Through her father's Italian heritage and mother's Cuban-Dominican heritage she has a light olive skin tone with Italian-dominated facial features. She has hazel eyes, a distinguishing Roman arched nose and narrow lips with a small chin. Her petite features are dwarfed even more by her prominent nose. Her hair is naturally dark, with a medium texture but coarse nature. For a lot of her childhood, Julia hosted shoulder length hair, however in the past few years she has started to grow it out a little longer. Whilst naturally frizzy, Julia wouldn’t be seen leaving the house without it either straightened or tied up in a tennis player's pony. When straightened, her hair length sits at 16”, resting comfortably on her shoulders and back. Over summer, Julia chose to dye her hair for the first time with a caramel ombre. Furthermore, she has a pair of fashionable, red-rimmed prescription glasses for mild short-sightedness, but she resists wearing them whenever possible to avoid looking uncool.

Julia follows her older sister in being naturally thin and ectomorphic, weighing 116 lbs. Through swimming, she has a deceptively high fitness level. She is able to hide how strong and athletic she is with a very lean frame rather than being muscular; all of the swimming has helped her to lightly tone her body and has rewarded her with strong legs. Style-wise, Julia’s wardrobe is largely autumnal by nature with a defined attraction to knitwear. As a result, her wardrobe contains plenty of cardigans, sweaters, coats and scarves of mostly darker colours and modest patterns. She isn’t extraordinarily fashionable, preferring to be understated with her styling and take a strategy of fitting in rather than being in-your-face or the centre of attention. In general, Julia’s wardrobe is mature and people are sometimes surprised that she is only 17 years old.

On the day of the abduction, Julia was wearing a woollen sweater, dark blue on the top half covering the shoulders and sleeves, with a pale gray around the lower torso and stomach. Close to where the colours meet, a leafy pattern wraps around the sweater. Beneath her jumper, she’s wearing her favourite Jonas Brothers shirt, paired with black skinny jeans and classic blue high-top Converse.

Biography: Julia was born on April 24th, 2004, at Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville, New Jersey. She was born to father Rob Guercio, a second generation Italian-American born and raised in Howard Beach, New York, and mother Alba Guercio née Castellano, a first generation Cuban/Dominican-American who grew up in Miami, Florida before moving to New York City after graduating. Rob majored in economics and finance at Yale University, moving back to the New York City metropolitan area upon graduating. He immediately took a graduate role at a global investment bank in the city, having since worked his way up in the business from analyst through associate to director level. Though his work lifestyle has allowed him to support the family financially, it often meant long hours and for most of Julia’s childhood he would struggle to make it home before bedtime. Meanwhile, Alba became the first in her family to attend college, majoring in marketing at Florida State University before choosing to move to New York City to work in retail marketing. Julia’s parents met in a Hell’s Kitchen jazz bar on NYE 1997 after being introduced by a mutual friend. By March the pair became inseparable which resulted in them getting engaged on a holiday to the Bahamas in summer of 2000 and marrying the following spring.

Julia has two sisters. Her older sister and the first-born is Marina, born a year anda half earlier on September 5th, 2002, who from a young age was a high achiever. Whilst protective of Julia, from her perspective she would constantly strive to one-up her whenever possible which left them to both grow up with a friendly competition. Her younger sister, Chiara, was born on May 18th, 2011, meaning she is significantly younger than the other two. As a result of the age gap, beyond normal family activities, Julia was never as close with her younger sister, with her being more of a source of frustration for her than anything else. After Chiara was born, Julia was relegated in the family and quickly developed middle child syndrome. Her family would describe themselves as casuals to the Catholic faith, usually only choosing to attend church if there was an event or if they had family visiting. Julia’s grandparents on her father's side are very religious and would often give her father grief for not raising his daughters as god-fearing Catholics.

Growing up, life at home was loving and stable. Her parents were well-connected within their New Jersey community and operated a sociable open-door policy so there would often be neighbours or family friends round visiting or BBQing. Culturally, it was a very matriarchal household, with Julia’s mother giving up her job when Julia was born to be a stay-at-home mom. As a result of the matriarchal upbringing, by the age of five Julia was encouraged to take an active role in the kitchen, helping to prepare banquets for the family and their friends. Her older sister Marina would often take the lead and loudly call out any of Julia's mistakes, leaving her feeling disheartened and like she was living in her shadow. Being born in to a family of loud-and-proud New York Mets fans, from a young she was inducted in to the fanbase. Her father would regularly take her to baseball games and they would always share hot dogs and pretzels. These trips allowed her to build a close relationship with her father and she wore her oversized David Wright jersey along his matching jersey with pride. Not only was the father-daughter time special to her, the electric atmosphere in the stadium and the loud roars that echoed the streets of the city during games gave such an adrenaline rush, especially during the local rivalry meets with the Yankees.

As Julia started kindergarten, she began to come out of her shell more and found her voice around the family dinner table, encouraged by her father. Starting school was great for Julia, introducing her to more people her own age helped her to grow her self-confidence and she found it easier to make friends. However things at home were less positive. The demanding hours of her father's work had started to worsen, causing strains on the family relationships. The stability of the Guercio household suffered from the late 2000s financial crisis and recession. Money became precious as job security was engulfed in uncertainty. This, partnered with the birth of Julia’s younger sister Chiara in 2011, led to their father eventually making the tough decision to take voluntary redundancy in 2014, receiving a large pay-out as a result. It came at a good time for Julia as she battled with middle child syndrome as the focus at home seemed firmly on Marina’s top-of-the-class successes and Chiara’s early years. Having her father at home to spend more time with her helped rekindle their relationship. At elementary school Julia was a high performer in the classes which she was interested in, such as math and science, but struggled in the more creative side of the curriculum like the arts.

When she started middle school, she joined the school swim team and used that as a source for stress relief. Growing up with an older sister made her super competitive, giving her a yearning to win or be the best at everything she did, swim team being the prime example of this. At this time in her life she also started to develop regular headaches in class and friends noticed that she was squinting at the board when sat at the back. After trying to resist and downplay the problem at risk of being teased for wearing them, she was eventually taken by her parents for an eye test where she was diagnosed with mild short-sightedness and got a pair of prescription glasses. Even now she only wears them around the house or when with parents, not wanting to wear them in public or at school.

In 2015 whilst she was a year into middle school, Julia’s father took a new job as a finance manager for an energy & utilities firm in Boston, meaning the whole family had to relocate. Between affordability and a desire to stay in the suburbs, they opted for Salem. Her parents were attracted to the rich history, the coastal views and the easy access to Boston Logan for business travel. The new family house was pleasant, a seafront townhouse that was not quite as big as their New Jersey house but plenty of space for the whole family. Ever since moving her friends and cousins have teased her with witch jokes, even comparing Julia and her sisters to the Charmed trio.

Moving to Salem was a big displacement for Julia. Not only did she miss her friends and the social activity that surrounded her house and family, she missed the day trips to New York City, the Broadway shows readily available, the skyscrapers visible in the horizon from their garden and the family trips to Coney Island or to watch baseball games. With the help of her older sister, she did find her feet at her new school and was able to make some new friends. It also helped with her grades as she put more time into schoolwork, whilst eventually joining the choir. Julia initially joined the swim team as well but after a few incidents in the changing rooms with being bullied she took the decision to stop swimming. Not wanting to make a fuss, she never reported it and told the rest of the family that it was to concentrate on her studies. As an alternative, Julia would do lengths at the local swimming pool out of hours instead.

Between middle school and high school, Julia was able to travel with her family to do a tour of Italy, travelling from Rome down to Naples and Pompeii before heading north to visit their family roots in Milan, Bologna & Venice. This was a turning point for Julia as the trip impacted her views on her family history and their legacy. She grew in independence as the travel gave her a rare opportunity to do her own thing and the chance to explore the wonders of the Northern lakes. In addition, Julia has gotten more involved with cooking. Growing up in an Italian-American dominated neighbourhood meant Italian cuisine was a staple in their household, which has only amplified since getting taught more authentic family recipes by her cousins. Being able to soak in the culture of their Italian tour gave her a greater sense of cultural identity which resonated within her. As a result, Julia has since started to take up Italian language lessons and listen to Italian music, with her favourites being Annalisa and Laura Pausini's anthemic pop ballads. She's been actively planning a high school graduation vacation with her older sister Marina ever since.

Joining John Endecott Memorial Academy allowed Julia to come out of her shell again just like back in New Jersey. Largely her early teenage years were spent being your average teenage girl; a massive fangirl of boybands such as The Jonas Brothers and Why Don’t We, she boasted a semi-popular Instagram fan account for Niall Horan, her favourite member of One Direction, and she spent way too much time watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. Life at school was good to her; she no longer got teased and was able to make even more friends both with pupils and both good relationships with the teachers. Whilst by no means a cool girl, she was able to make many friends through class or her extra-curricular activities. She also had her sisters’ friends to protect her from anybody that wanted to tease the fresh blood. She made sure to join several clubs – namely the choir as an alto, cooking club, the debate team & model United Nations – where she was also able to expand her social circles. It was helped by the fact her family embraced being a party destination, allowing both older sisters to have friends over regularly and on rare occasions host parties.

As a sophomore, she started hanging out with some older students who she met at the Salem swimming pool and leisure centre. Recognising her from class, they convinced her to join the school's swimming team and despite her initial hesitancies, Julia was very glad that she did. It helped her strengthen her reputation in her class and the school. In her junior year she also joined the mathletes as part of a deal with her sister who was the team captain, wanting Julia to take over from her once she graduated and went on to college. With advanced algebra and calculus being two of her favourite classes, she has struck up a really strong relationship with Mrs. Donahue. Her grades put her as one of the best in the class, being able to use a lot of Marina’s revision material to help her with tests and essays. Being party of the mathletes gave her a reputation of being a bit of a nerd among her classmates however she enjoyed the competitive nature of it, going face to face with very intelligent people. She thrived off the competition and the challenge to constantly be the best.

For her junior year, Julia continued to hang out with a lot of the seniors that she knew from the swimming team & through her sister. As they started to party a little harder, she in turn matured both in personality and appearance. Growing up in an Italian family, limoncello would be a regular treat with family dinners and at BBQs meaning when she started to drink alcohol her first party wasn’t as messy at it was for others. In addition to time with her school friends, her main interests include board games, live music and musical theatre. Growing up, her family would have family games nights where they would play from their ever-growing board game collection. She has been fortunate enough to see a lot of her favourite bands and singers live either in New York or in Boston over the past few years, usually with a few friends and her sister.

When visiting their extended family or friends back in New Jersey, she would usually go to see a musical and loved being enveloped in the magic of the stage shows. She has fond memories of attending the opening night performance of Frozen the Musical on Broadway for a birthday gift and has seen both Waitress and Wicked countless times, although her favourite would still be Hamilton. She’s also a huge fan of baseball, mainly supporting the New York Mets but she has also grown to cheer for the Boston Red Sox since moving to Massachusetts. Getting to visit their friends gave her and the rest of the family opportunities to see the Mets play, so were often timed around the sports calendar.

The COVID-19 lockdown was difficult to endure, not only from limiting her time at school and with friends but also teenage angst setting in when it came to home life. Family arguments were rare but they seemed to happen a lot more regularly with her constantly being compared to Marina who was completing her senior year. Just prior to the lockdown being enforced Julia had started to date her first boyfriend, Kyle, who she met at a swimming competition. Between distance, not being able to see each other in person and an uncomfortable meeting with Julia’s over-protective father, unfortunately it was not a relationship that was destined to last.

In the present day, Julia has started her senior year and is enjoying being back in school, back with the swim team, whilst also helping to lead the mathletes to hopefully another year of success. She’s still an active member of the choir. Her older sister Marina has left home after graduating in the summer of 2021 on the honours roll and class valedictorian. She now lives in Baltimore with the plan of majoring in medicine and neurology at Johns Hopkins University. Her sister being awarded class valedictorian and securing a spot at such a prestigious college has put even more pressure on Julia to succeed academically with her parents really piling on the pressure in her final year of high school. She has plans to study at Northeastern University in Boston, hoping to major in economics or mathematics just like her father did.

Over summer she enjoyed visiting the college campus for the first time with her parents and childhood best friend Liana. The plan they have is to go to college together after so many years of occasional visits and mainly communicating over social media. She also has tickets to some upcoming gigs including The Weeknd and Olivia Rodrigo however is impatient after them originally being postponed due to COVID. She is adjusting to a lot of her close friends no longer living in Salem having moved cross-country for college but seeing their social media presence and the fun that they are getting up to is only getting her more excited to go to college next year herself.

In terms of personality, on first impression she could be seen by others as shy but once comfortable with those around her she is a lot louder and extroverted. Her closest friends would describe her as funny, with Julia often being the one to make a joke to fill a silence. With her family happy to let her friends come over regularly, she has taken very well to playing host, being hospitable and making sure every drink is filled up. Being competitive she has a reputation within her friendship circle to be a sore loser if not crowned the winner whether that be in sport or board games. She gets bored playing video games however does own a Nintendo Wii. Whilst it usually sits there collecting dust, the baseball in WiiSports and Mario Kart are her favourite games. Over lockdown she started a virtual book club with a few of her closest friends, however one month in she gave up and would cheat by reading the online plot synopsis and main themes to sound well-informed at the review calls. Over the past year she has also made a lot of new friends online on social media within various musical artist fan group chats, which has caused her to recede away from her class outside of her main circle of friends.

Advantages: Julia is naturally bright and her advanced math focus gives her a logical and analytical approach to problem solving. Whilst not overtly physically strong, through her swimming career she does have a high stamina level and the regular cardiovascular activity means she is a relatively quick runner. Aided by her competitive nature, Julia works hard to achieve what she puts her heart to.
Disadvantages: Despite being athletic, physical strength is not one of her assets. Her short-sighted vision means she would have difficulty reading signs or writing from a distance if anything was to happen to her glasses. Growing up with her over-achieving sister has led to her becoming extremely competitive, a vice that can easily cause her to make rash or wrong decisions. With most of her closest friends being in the year above at school, Julia does not have strong friendships with most people in her class that would be on the trip and is likely to feel isolated.

Designated Number: Student No. 119

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Designated Weapon: 1-gallon tub of Moose Tracks ice cream

Conclusion: Keeping your blood sugar up is important, and you don't even have to worry about that melting while you lug the tub around. Sometimes we're nice. - Christina Stockton