By Marie Wilson, Daily Herald

A Naperville North High School student touched a nerve and sparked a communitywide conversation when she posted an online petition seeking to change the “pressure culture” at her school.

That culture defines one narrow route to success and shames all who can’t or don’t want to follow it as failures, while instilling the belief “there is no worse fate than failure,” junior Tessa Newman wrote late one night after one of her peers died by suicide.

She thought her petition would draw a perfunctory “thank you for sharing” and not much else from the school administration. But she underestimated the stir her words would create.

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