Transgender teenager Jazz Jennings has announced that she will be taking a gap year before attending Harvard in order to ‘focus on self-care’ after a busy year that has seen her undergoing gender confirmation surgery – while documenting it on her reality TV show.
The South Florida native, 18, took to the platform to share her personal decision. The TV and YouTube personality said that deciding to take a break wasn’t an easy call to make, but ultimately she thought it right to ‘refocus and recenter’ in order to be the ‘strongest version’ of herself.
The I Am Jazz star graduated valedictorian from her high school this summer and was due to start at the Ivy League university this Fall. While she has previously expressed the desire to pursue a career in advocacy, she has not yet revealed what major she is taking.
‘Some news’: Jazz Jennings, pictured, shared a personal update to Instagram, telling her 950,000 followers that she planned to take a gap year before starting Harvard
Next steps: Jazz, 18, was due to start at the Boston-based university this Fall but is now putting her studies on hold while she takes a personal break
Decision: The South Florida native said she was glad to have the support of her parents Greg and Jeanette
Writing on Instagram, Jazz said, ‘After careful consideration I have decided to take a break before starting at Harvard. It wasn’t an easy decision but it is the right one for me.’
She continued to say that as a result of the last few years being so ‘full and busy’, she needed some time to reflect.
‘I realized I could use some time to refocus and recenter to be the strongest version of myself,’ she stated.
‘I am so grateful to have the support of my parents and Harvard in making this decision and look forward to focusing on some self-care and getting prepared to start this exciting next chapter in my life’.
Her older brother Sander was quick to praise her in the comments section.
Studious: Jazz has expressed her interest in pursuing a career in advocacy but what major she has chosen is unknown
Support: Her post received 55,000 likes and many notable figures weighed in to express their support of her decision
‘You are the strongest person I know. So proud of you for making this decision,’ he said.
Her decision was also supported by the likes of ABC journalist Juju Chang, trans athlete Schuyler Bailar, activist Steph Frosch and trans actress Daniielle Alexis.
In May, when she revealed she would be attending the Boston-based university, Jazz said ‘I am so stoked for this next chapter of my life! Feeling so blessed and grateful right now.’
A couple of weeks later, she proudly wore a LGBTQ-friendly rainbow cap for her graduation from Broward Virtual School, an online school for students from kindergarten to 12th grade in Coconut Creek, Florida.
In her speech as valedictorian, she said she hoped her classmates – most of whom she had never met in real life – would continue to embrace their differences.
Valediction: Jazz, pictured, graduated from her virtual high school in June
Family: ‘The Jennings’ (L-R) Sander, Ari, Jeanette, Jazz, Greg and Griffen at Jazz’s high school graduation
‘There is one experience that we all share,’ she said in the speech.
Speech: The teen delivered a passionate speech to her classmates about following their own paths
‘All of us are unique in that we decided for ourselves to walk upon the unpaved path.
‘Whatever our reasoning may have been, we all took action and made changes to accommodate our own happiness rather than alter ourselves to accommodate the traditional method of success,’ she said.
‘In this world of conformity, where people often alter themselves in order to fit in, we all deliberately chose to take part in an unconventional method of learning that most people don’t understand.
‘But it didn’t matter to us what other people thought.
‘We all knew that, regardless of what is socially normal, we must always listen to our inner voice and follow our personal happiness,’ Jazz concluded.
Personality: Jazz, who was born Jaron, has been in the public eye since she was six-years-old
Jazz began to receive national recognition when she was just six-years-old.
Born male with the name Jaron, Jazz was told she had gender dysmorphia at five-years-old. Her parents Greg and Jeanette began appearing on television soon after to speak about the challenges they were facing as they raised their youngest of four children.
In 2011, I Am Jazz: A Family in Transition, a documentary about ‘the Jennings’ (not their real last name) premiered on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Jazz, who was once named as one of Time’s 25 Most Influential Teens, lobbied the United States Soccer Federation, eventually succeeding in changing their policies to allow trans students to play.
She had gender reassignment in June 2018.
‘I woke up on the morning on the surgery, and I don’t think I’ve ever been that happy in my entire life. It was just like pure, positive energy,’ she said at the time.