Patch Portrait: New Trier Senior Looks Outside the Bubble, Toward the Future

This week's Patch Portraits also highlight one woman's hopes of a and the .

For high school seniors, these next few weeks before graduation are full of reflection on years past and excitement for years to come.

When he graduates from New Trier next month, Jeremy Levine-Drizin will undoubtedly think about what it means to leave the North Shore community. For one, he's the senior class president at New Trier and he has left his mark on the school. Levine-Drizin and another student worked to cut back on waste at the school -- specifically, plastic water bottles.

"We realized New Trier was consuming an insane amount of water bottles every day. I think it was around 88,000 every year," Levine-Drizin said.

After a petition, numerous meetings and presentations to school employees and students, New Trier students drink tap water -- bottled water is not available in school cafeterias.

"Now it's interesting to walk through the cafeteria and everyone has their own reusable water bottle and it's kind of nice," Levine-Drizin said. "At first there was a lot of anger but now people have gotten used to it."

Levine-Drizin says he may consider a career in politics but only after having a career in another field. He intends to study international relations at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. New Trier's graduation ceremonies are June 5.