Thursday, April 8, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Editorial
Overdose
Death caused by over dose. This has been said so many times in our society that it seems normal. How can have such a horrible addiction that you die from it be considered normal? It shouldn’t be. Drug abuse is not a new thing. It is a very common thing, and it needs to be put to a stop. Most teenagers today think that “just taking one hit” or “just trying drugs” isn’t a big deal. When in reality that one hit or one time can truly ruin your life.
Corey Haim died March 10 because of a drug overdose. His addiction started in his teenage years, like so many addictions do. One reason teens start using drugs is to “get away from life”. Being stressed out and having issues at home or with friends is always a hard thing to deal with. Well some teens deal with it in a healthy way by exercising, drawing, writing, or just taking time to relax every once in a while. Others turn straight to drugs when they become stressed. Using drugs one time when you are stressed will become your way of coping with the stress. That can easily become an addiction. Yes, we are all stressed, but putting deadly toxins into our bodies to get us high is obviously not an expectable way to cope with that.
A 17 year old girl, whose story about being addicted to heroin was on theantidrug.com, said “The hardest thing for me is remembering what life was like before I started using drugs”. Imagine not being able to remember any of your childhood, any of your favorite memories with loved ones, barley being able to remember what you did the night before. Not only are you losing memories but you are losing people. You’re Drifting away from your closest friends, and your family. There are no good out comes to using drugs. Just an addiction that can lead you to your death…nothing is worth that.
In our nation today drug use is on the rise right now, there needs to be a rise of ways to prevent drug use from happening. People need to know there are better options then drugs. Like the vision of the program To Write Love on Her Arms says, “We live in a difficult world, a broken world…life is hard for most people most of the time. We believe that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. You need to know that you're not alone in the places you feel stuck… The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead. The vision is the possibility that we're more loved than we'll ever know. The vision is hope, and hope is real. You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.” Drugs are not the answer. This problem needs to be stopped.
Death caused by over dose. This has been said so many times in our society that it seems normal. How can have such a horrible addiction that you die from it be considered normal? It shouldn’t be. Drug abuse is not a new thing. It is a very common thing, and it needs to be put to a stop. Most teenagers today think that “just taking one hit” or “just trying drugs” isn’t a big deal. When in reality that one hit or one time can truly ruin your life.
Corey Haim died March 10 because of a drug overdose. His addiction started in his teenage years, like so many addictions do. One reason teens start using drugs is to “get away from life”. Being stressed out and having issues at home or with friends is always a hard thing to deal with. Well some teens deal with it in a healthy way by exercising, drawing, writing, or just taking time to relax every once in a while. Others turn straight to drugs when they become stressed. Using drugs one time when you are stressed will become your way of coping with the stress. That can easily become an addiction. Yes, we are all stressed, but putting deadly toxins into our bodies to get us high is obviously not an expectable way to cope with that.
A 17 year old girl, whose story about being addicted to heroin was on theantidrug.com, said “The hardest thing for me is remembering what life was like before I started using drugs”. Imagine not being able to remember any of your childhood, any of your favorite memories with loved ones, barley being able to remember what you did the night before. Not only are you losing memories but you are losing people. You’re Drifting away from your closest friends, and your family. There are no good out comes to using drugs. Just an addiction that can lead you to your death…nothing is worth that.
In our nation today drug use is on the rise right now, there needs to be a rise of ways to prevent drug use from happening. People need to know there are better options then drugs. Like the vision of the program To Write Love on Her Arms says, “We live in a difficult world, a broken world…life is hard for most people most of the time. We believe that everyone can relate to pain, that all of us live with questions, and all of us get stuck in moments. You need to know that you're not alone in the places you feel stuck… The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead. The vision is the possibility that we're more loved than we'll ever know. The vision is hope, and hope is real. You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.” Drugs are not the answer. This problem needs to be stopped.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Feature Story
What Love really means
Everyone has a wish. Everyone has a dream. Everyone would give anything to have their dream come true. Yet some kids are getting everything taken from them before they can even live long enough to have this dream become true. One special foundation is doing all they can to make sure that every child can have their biggest dreams come true. With the mission statement of “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.” The Make a Wish foundation affects so many young kids who have been through life threatening injuries or who have terminal diseases. My cousin Joe is one of the thousands of kids who got his wish granted.
In the spring of 2009 my cousin Joe was just an average Junior at East Marshall High School in Marshalltown Iowa. He went to school one morning like he always does. He had a normal day at school. After he drove over to his moms work to get some money. Then he went back to school to decorate for prom. Like all juniors he was so excited to go to prom he talked about it all the time. So decorating was very exciting for him. He and his friend Miles decided they would take a little break from decorating to play a quick game of basketball. He went up for a layup and he collapsed…Luckily his friends knew CPR so they began doing that right away, while another one of his friends called 911. The paramedics showed up right away and took him to a hospital in Marshalltown. They did as much as they could in Marshalltown but the doctors knew there was nothing else they could do. The doctors said that the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota will be able to help Joe. So that night he was airlifted in a helicopter to Rochester.
I still remember that night. My parents and I were watching TV when the phone rang. My mom answered and was on the phone for a long time. I became very concerned when I heard the sound of my mom’s voice. She sounded so sad and scared. When she got off the phone she told me that “Joe had an accident.” A million things ran through my mind. Especially the last time I saw him. It was thanksgiving at my Grandparents house. Our whole family was there. Joe was being...well Joe. He is the kind of person who is always hyper, happy, and smiling. Nothing stops him from being happy. And well that can get annoying when you have someone around you constantly being crazy. My family does get a little annoyed with Joe but of course we all love him. Whenever we go to Iowa to visit my family Joe is always the first one to run up and say “Hi Meg I love you!” with his big smile on his face and give me a huge hug. This memory was all I could think of; Joe running up and hugging me. Then I thought of when he texted me a couple weeks ago saying that he just saw the Hannah Montana movie and loved it so much! Joe and I love Hannah Montana. But after thinking about all of this I realized I have never made Joe a huge part of my life. He was just my cousin who I saw at holidays. When we were little we would play together all the time but now it was like we didn’t even try to be close. This made me realize how much I really did love him, and needed to show him that.
When he arrived to Rochester he was still unconscious. He was rushed to intensive care. His heart stopped 6 more times that night. My aunt Lannette says she can remember the horrible sound of the machines and the doctors “pounding” on Joe’s chest to save him. The next day after we got the phone call I was so scared that I was going to lose Joe. My mom texted me during the day saying she was leaving work early to go to Rochester. I begged her to let me come to but in the end we decided I should stay in school the rest of the day and I would go on the weekend.
The weekend came and my mom and I made the hour drive to Rochester. Little did I know this trip would become so familiar. When we got there the first person we saw was my Grandpa. He was sitting outside the hospital on a little stool he carries around. Never have I seen my Grandpa so scared in my life. He told us he couldn’t handle being in Joe’s room anymore. Once again I had no idea what would be in store when we walked into his room. So we took my grandpa up to the room with us. Floor 5 first set of doors on the right. Intensive care. We went through 2 sets of big heavy doors. When we walked through the second set of doors I saw Lannette, my grandma and my cousin Courtaney. We were now all outside a room. “do you want to see Joe?” they asked. “yes.” We went in...Word could never describe how I felt seeing him. All i could think of was thanksgiving. Joe jumping up and down being so crazy and now he was lying in a hospital bed. Tubes in his throat and chest. I had never seen so many tubes and machines in my life. Lannette went over and took his hand and said “Joe, Meghan and Lorrie came to see you.” No response. The doctors began to take him off the medicine to kind of wake him up. “Go ahead and say hi to him.” My grandma talked to him, Court talked to him. We all did. I went over and took his head and through teary eyes i said. “Joe I love you.” The words he has said to me so many times. His eyes slowly open. he tries to squeeze my hand, and despite all the tubes in his throat and all he has been through so far his lips move. Slowly trying to say “I love you to.” By this point we are all in tears. I have never seen my Grandparents cry before. Now I know why my Grandpa couldn’t stand being in this room. But at this point in time it was so filled with love; I didn’t want to leave Joe.
I stayed at the hospital that night. The one thing that amazed me was how even though this horrible thing was going on my aunt was still her goofy, loving, silly self. Obviously she was scared to death that she was going to lose he son but she was thinking positive. Joe was in intensive care for weeks, and every weekend my mom and I would make that hour trip to Rochester. Sometimes we would go after school for a few hours. And on our trips back we began to see this place we later started calling “the city of lights”. At night it was this place that was so light up and pretty it looked like a million little twinkling lights. We decided when Joe got out of the hospital we would take him there so we could find out what it was. While Joe was in intensive care he had surgeries on his legs because they were not getting good blood circulation. The doctors had to cut on both sides of his legs and remove dead muscle. They didn’t know if he would be able to fully walk again. Joe just said “you’ll see, I’m going to walk out of here.” Finally Joe was out of intensive care. One day when we came to visit him I told him I learned the hoedown throw down dance from Hannah Montana the Movie. He said “DO IT!” so we had a little concert in his hospital room. Everyone was laughing so hard. And after the Hoedown throw down I sang the Climb to my mom grandma, Lannette, court and Joe. They all say I look like Miley so I was getting really into the song and dancing when a nurse walked in. We all laughed even more. This is why I was always excited to go see Joe. When most people think of visiting someone in the hospital they think of sitting around a bed quietly talking. That never happened here. We danced, sang, laughed, watched movies, ate, and goofed around.
In October, two months after Joe got out of the hospital, Joe, My Aunt my cousin Courtnay, my mom, our Grandma and I had a week together that we will never forget thanks to Make a Wish. It started on the plan ride to Florida. “Can I sit by the window?” was the first thing out of Joe’s mouth on the airplane. We laughed and goofed around the whole ride there. Joe was amazed by the air plane. This was his second time flying but now he will actually remember it. We got to the resort we would be staying at for the week called Give Kids the World. It is a resort set up by Make a Wish. Joe and I took some time to explore the village. It was great, a swimming pool, face painting; all you can eat ice cream (our favorite part) and so much more. The one thing I will always remember about this place is all the kids there. Despite their disabilities or diseases they were all so happy. They were smiling, laughing, having fun, and just being kids. That’s what Make a Wish is for. To let kids be kids. That week in Florida changed my life. Well Joe changed my life. He made me realize just how precious every second of our lives are. Each and every Make a Wish kid there was enjoying each second of their life, and their families were happy to. That’s what life is about, being happy. The Make a Wish foundation changes children’s lives by letting them just have fun.
“I love you Joe.” I have said that more times then I can count. The simple squeeze of his hand that day at the hospital taught me the true meaning of love. He has changed my life so much we have become so close. I would have never thought this whole accident with would change my life for the better. But it did, and i am so thankful to still have Joe and to have had so many good memories from our trip to Florida. Joe and i will always be so close with each other. I love you Joe.
Everyone has a wish. Everyone has a dream. Everyone would give anything to have their dream come true. Yet some kids are getting everything taken from them before they can even live long enough to have this dream become true. One special foundation is doing all they can to make sure that every child can have their biggest dreams come true. With the mission statement of “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.” The Make a Wish foundation affects so many young kids who have been through life threatening injuries or who have terminal diseases. My cousin Joe is one of the thousands of kids who got his wish granted.
In the spring of 2009 my cousin Joe was just an average Junior at East Marshall High School in Marshalltown Iowa. He went to school one morning like he always does. He had a normal day at school. After he drove over to his moms work to get some money. Then he went back to school to decorate for prom. Like all juniors he was so excited to go to prom he talked about it all the time. So decorating was very exciting for him. He and his friend Miles decided they would take a little break from decorating to play a quick game of basketball. He went up for a layup and he collapsed…Luckily his friends knew CPR so they began doing that right away, while another one of his friends called 911. The paramedics showed up right away and took him to a hospital in Marshalltown. They did as much as they could in Marshalltown but the doctors knew there was nothing else they could do. The doctors said that the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota will be able to help Joe. So that night he was airlifted in a helicopter to Rochester.
I still remember that night. My parents and I were watching TV when the phone rang. My mom answered and was on the phone for a long time. I became very concerned when I heard the sound of my mom’s voice. She sounded so sad and scared. When she got off the phone she told me that “Joe had an accident.” A million things ran through my mind. Especially the last time I saw him. It was thanksgiving at my Grandparents house. Our whole family was there. Joe was being...well Joe. He is the kind of person who is always hyper, happy, and smiling. Nothing stops him from being happy. And well that can get annoying when you have someone around you constantly being crazy. My family does get a little annoyed with Joe but of course we all love him. Whenever we go to Iowa to visit my family Joe is always the first one to run up and say “Hi Meg I love you!” with his big smile on his face and give me a huge hug. This memory was all I could think of; Joe running up and hugging me. Then I thought of when he texted me a couple weeks ago saying that he just saw the Hannah Montana movie and loved it so much! Joe and I love Hannah Montana. But after thinking about all of this I realized I have never made Joe a huge part of my life. He was just my cousin who I saw at holidays. When we were little we would play together all the time but now it was like we didn’t even try to be close. This made me realize how much I really did love him, and needed to show him that.
When he arrived to Rochester he was still unconscious. He was rushed to intensive care. His heart stopped 6 more times that night. My aunt Lannette says she can remember the horrible sound of the machines and the doctors “pounding” on Joe’s chest to save him. The next day after we got the phone call I was so scared that I was going to lose Joe. My mom texted me during the day saying she was leaving work early to go to Rochester. I begged her to let me come to but in the end we decided I should stay in school the rest of the day and I would go on the weekend.
The weekend came and my mom and I made the hour drive to Rochester. Little did I know this trip would become so familiar. When we got there the first person we saw was my Grandpa. He was sitting outside the hospital on a little stool he carries around. Never have I seen my Grandpa so scared in my life. He told us he couldn’t handle being in Joe’s room anymore. Once again I had no idea what would be in store when we walked into his room. So we took my grandpa up to the room with us. Floor 5 first set of doors on the right. Intensive care. We went through 2 sets of big heavy doors. When we walked through the second set of doors I saw Lannette, my grandma and my cousin Courtaney. We were now all outside a room. “do you want to see Joe?” they asked. “yes.” We went in...Word could never describe how I felt seeing him. All i could think of was thanksgiving. Joe jumping up and down being so crazy and now he was lying in a hospital bed. Tubes in his throat and chest. I had never seen so many tubes and machines in my life. Lannette went over and took his hand and said “Joe, Meghan and Lorrie came to see you.” No response. The doctors began to take him off the medicine to kind of wake him up. “Go ahead and say hi to him.” My grandma talked to him, Court talked to him. We all did. I went over and took his head and through teary eyes i said. “Joe I love you.” The words he has said to me so many times. His eyes slowly open. he tries to squeeze my hand, and despite all the tubes in his throat and all he has been through so far his lips move. Slowly trying to say “I love you to.” By this point we are all in tears. I have never seen my Grandparents cry before. Now I know why my Grandpa couldn’t stand being in this room. But at this point in time it was so filled with love; I didn’t want to leave Joe.
I stayed at the hospital that night. The one thing that amazed me was how even though this horrible thing was going on my aunt was still her goofy, loving, silly self. Obviously she was scared to death that she was going to lose he son but she was thinking positive. Joe was in intensive care for weeks, and every weekend my mom and I would make that hour trip to Rochester. Sometimes we would go after school for a few hours. And on our trips back we began to see this place we later started calling “the city of lights”. At night it was this place that was so light up and pretty it looked like a million little twinkling lights. We decided when Joe got out of the hospital we would take him there so we could find out what it was. While Joe was in intensive care he had surgeries on his legs because they were not getting good blood circulation. The doctors had to cut on both sides of his legs and remove dead muscle. They didn’t know if he would be able to fully walk again. Joe just said “you’ll see, I’m going to walk out of here.” Finally Joe was out of intensive care. One day when we came to visit him I told him I learned the hoedown throw down dance from Hannah Montana the Movie. He said “DO IT!” so we had a little concert in his hospital room. Everyone was laughing so hard. And after the Hoedown throw down I sang the Climb to my mom grandma, Lannette, court and Joe. They all say I look like Miley so I was getting really into the song and dancing when a nurse walked in. We all laughed even more. This is why I was always excited to go see Joe. When most people think of visiting someone in the hospital they think of sitting around a bed quietly talking. That never happened here. We danced, sang, laughed, watched movies, ate, and goofed around.
In October, two months after Joe got out of the hospital, Joe, My Aunt my cousin Courtnay, my mom, our Grandma and I had a week together that we will never forget thanks to Make a Wish. It started on the plan ride to Florida. “Can I sit by the window?” was the first thing out of Joe’s mouth on the airplane. We laughed and goofed around the whole ride there. Joe was amazed by the air plane. This was his second time flying but now he will actually remember it. We got to the resort we would be staying at for the week called Give Kids the World. It is a resort set up by Make a Wish. Joe and I took some time to explore the village. It was great, a swimming pool, face painting; all you can eat ice cream (our favorite part) and so much more. The one thing I will always remember about this place is all the kids there. Despite their disabilities or diseases they were all so happy. They were smiling, laughing, having fun, and just being kids. That’s what Make a Wish is for. To let kids be kids. That week in Florida changed my life. Well Joe changed my life. He made me realize just how precious every second of our lives are. Each and every Make a Wish kid there was enjoying each second of their life, and their families were happy to. That’s what life is about, being happy. The Make a Wish foundation changes children’s lives by letting them just have fun.
“I love you Joe.” I have said that more times then I can count. The simple squeeze of his hand that day at the hospital taught me the true meaning of love. He has changed my life so much we have become so close. I would have never thought this whole accident with would change my life for the better. But it did, and i am so thankful to still have Joe and to have had so many good memories from our trip to Florida. Joe and i will always be so close with each other. I love you Joe.
Editorial
1. What is a problem/issue that our entire student body (our school, community, country, etc.) faces today?
drug abuse
2. What is your view/position on the problem or situation?
bad, needs to be stopped
3. What would you like to achieve with your editorial? (What is the desired result?)
tell people how drugs effect people-bad ways-ruin lives
4. How will you persuade your audience to adopt your viewpoint as theirs? List at least 4 persuasive points.
1. true storys about people
2. how drug abuse can ruin a persons life
3. explaining the reasons people choose this/why its not worth it
4. risks
5. How will you motivate your readership to action in your conclusion?
facts, stories about how bad drug abuse is
6. How will your editorial serve a public purpose?
explain why drug abuse is such a serious problem
drug abuse
2. What is your view/position on the problem or situation?
bad, needs to be stopped
3. What would you like to achieve with your editorial? (What is the desired result?)
tell people how drugs effect people-bad ways-ruin lives
4. How will you persuade your audience to adopt your viewpoint as theirs? List at least 4 persuasive points.
1. true storys about people
2. how drug abuse can ruin a persons life
3. explaining the reasons people choose this/why its not worth it
4. risks
5. How will you motivate your readership to action in your conclusion?
facts, stories about how bad drug abuse is
6. How will your editorial serve a public purpose?
explain why drug abuse is such a serious problem
Sunday, March 14, 2010
feature article
What Love really means
Everyone has a wish. Everyone has a dream. Everyone would give anything to have their dream come true. Yet some kids are getting everything taken from them before they can even live long enough to have this dream become true. One special foundation is doing all they can to make sure that every child can have their biggest dreams come true. With the mission statement of “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.” The Make a Wish foundation affects so many young kids who have been through life threatening injuries or who have terminal diseases. My cousin Joe is one of the thousands of kids who got his wish granted.
In the spring of 2009 my cousin Joe was just an average Junior at East Marshall High School in Marshalltown Iowa. He went to school one morning like he always does. He had a normal day at school. After he drove over to his moms work to get some money. Then he went back to school to decorate for prom. Like all juniors he was so excited to go to prom he talked about it all the time. So decorating was very exciting for him. He and his friend Miles decided they would take a little break from decorating to play a quick game of basketball. He went up for a layup and he collapsed…Luckily his friends knew CPR so they began doing that right away, while another one of his friends called 911. The paramedics showed up right away and took him to a hospital in Marshalltown. They did as much as they could in Marshalltown but the doctors knew there was nothing else they could do. The doctors said that the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota will be able to help Joe. So that night he was airlifted in a helicopter to Rochester.
I still remember that night. My parents and I were watching TV when the phone rang. My mom answered and was on the phone for a long time. I became very concerned when I heard the sound of my mom’s voice. She sounded so sad and scared. When she got off the phone she told me that “Joe had an accident.” A million things ran through my mind. Especially the last time I saw him. It was thanksgiving at my Grandparents house. Our whole family was there. Joe was being...well Joe. He is the kind of person who is always hyper, happy, and smiling. Nothing stops him from being happy. And well that can get annoying when you have someone around you constantly being crazy. My family does get a little annoyed with Joe but of course we all love him. Whenever we go to Iowa to visit my family Joe is always the first one to run up and say “Hi Meg I love you!” with his big smile on his face and give me a huge hug. This memory was all I could think of; Joe running up and hugging me. Then I thought of when he texted me a couple weeks ago saying that he just saw the Hannah Montana movie and loved it so much! Joe and I love Hannah Montana. But after thinking about all of this I realized I have never made Joe a huge part of my life. He was just my cousin who I saw at holidays. When we were little we would play together all the time but now it was like we didn’t even try to be close. This made me realize how much I really did love him, and needed to show him that.
When he arrived to Rochester he was still unconscious. He was rushed to intensive care. His heart stopped 6 more times that night. My aunt Lannette says she can remember the horrible sound of the machines and the doctors “pounding” on Joe’s chest to save him. The next day after we got the phone call I was so scared that I was going to lose Joe. My mom texted me during the day saying she was leaving work early to go to Rochester. I begged her to let me come to but in the end we decided I should stay in school the rest of the day and I would go on the weekend.
The weekend came and my mom and I made the hour drive to Rochester. Little did I know this trip would become so familiar. When we got there the first person we saw was my Grandpa. He was sitting outside the hospital on a little stool he carries around. Never have I seen my Grandpa so scared in my life. He told us he couldn’t handle being in Joe’s room anymore. Once again I had no idea what would be in store when we walked into his room. So we took my grandpa up to the room with us. Floor 5 first set of doors on the right. Intensive care. We went through 2 sets of big heavy doors. When we walked through the second set of doors I saw Lannette, my grandma and my cousin Courtaney. We were now all outside a room. “do you want to see Joe?” they asked. “yes.” We went in...Word could never describe how I felt seeing him. All i could think of was thanksgiving. Joe jumping up and down being so crazy and now he was lying in a hospital bed. Tubes in his throat and chest. I had never seen so many tubes and machines in my life. Lannette went over and took his hand and said “Joe, Meghan and Lorrie came to see you.” No response. The doctors began to take him off the medicine to kind of wake him up. “Go ahead and say hi to him.” My grandma talked to him, Court talked to him. We all did. I went over and took his head and through teary eyes i said. “Joe I love you.” The words he has said to me so many times. His eyes slowly open. he tries to squeeze my hand, and despite all the tubes in his throat and all he has been through so far his lips move. Slowly trying to say “I love you to.” By this point we are all in tears. I have never seen my Grandparents cry before. Now I know why my Grandpa couldn’t stand being in this room. But at this point in time it was so filled with love; I didn’t want to leave Joe.
I stayed at the hospital that night. The one thing that amazed me was how even though this horrible thing was going on my aunt was still her goofy, loving, silly self. Obviously she was scared to death that she was going to lose he son but she was thinking positive. Joe was in intensive care for weeks, and every weekend my mom and I would make that hour trip to Rochester. Sometimes we would go after school for a few hours. And on our trips back we began to see this place we later started calling “the city of lights”. At night it was this place that was so light up and pretty it looked like a million little twinkling lights. We decided when Joe got out of the hospital we would take him there so we could find out what it was. While Joe was in intensive care he had surgeries on his legs because they were not getting good blood circulation. The doctors had to cut on both sides of his legs and remove dead muscle. They didn’t know if he would be able to fully walk again. Joe just said “you’ll see, I’m going to walk out of here.” Finally Joe was out of intensive care. One day when we came to visit him I told him I learned the hoedown throw down dance from Hannah Montana the Movie. He said “DO IT!” so we had a little concert in his hospital room. Everyone was laughing so hard. And after the Hoedown throw down I sang the Climb to my mom grandma, Lannette, court and Joe. They all say I look like Miley so I was getting really into the song and dancing when a nurse walked in. We all laughed even more. This is why I was always excited to go see Joe. When most people think of visiting someone in the hospital they think of sitting around a bed quietly talking. That never happened here. We danced, sang, laughed, watched movies, ate, and goofed around.
In October, two months after Joe got out of the hospital, Joe, My Aunt my cousin Courtnay, my mom, our Grandma and I had a week together that we will never forget thanks to Make a Wish. It started on the plan ride to Florida. “Can I sit by the window?” was the first thing out of Joe’s mouth on the airplane. We laughed and goofed around the whole ride there. Joe was amazed by the air plane. This was his second time flying but now he will actually remember it. We got to the resort we would be staying at for the week called Give Kids the World. It is a resort set up by Make a Wish. Joe and I took some time to explore the village. It was great, a swimming pool, face painting; all you can eat ice cream (our favorite part) and so much more. The one thing I will always remember about this place is all the kids there. Despite their disabilities or diseases they were all so happy. They were smiling, laughing, having fun, and just being kids. That’s what Make a Wish is for. To let kids be kids. That week in Florida changed my life. Well Joe changed my life. He made me realize just how precious every second of our lives are. Each and every Make a Wish kid there was enjoying each second of their life, and their families were happy to. That’s what life is about, being happy. The Make a Wish foundation changes children’s lives by letting them just have fun.
“I love you Joe.” I have said that more times then I can count. The simple squeeze of his hand that day at the hospital taught me the true meaning of love. He has changed my life so much we have become so close. I would have never thought this whole accident with would change my life for the better. But it did, and i am so thankful to still have Joe and to have had so many good memories from our trip to Florida. Joe and i will always be so close with each other. I love you Jo
Everyone has a wish. Everyone has a dream. Everyone would give anything to have their dream come true. Yet some kids are getting everything taken from them before they can even live long enough to have this dream become true. One special foundation is doing all they can to make sure that every child can have their biggest dreams come true. With the mission statement of “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.” The Make a Wish foundation affects so many young kids who have been through life threatening injuries or who have terminal diseases. My cousin Joe is one of the thousands of kids who got his wish granted.
In the spring of 2009 my cousin Joe was just an average Junior at East Marshall High School in Marshalltown Iowa. He went to school one morning like he always does. He had a normal day at school. After he drove over to his moms work to get some money. Then he went back to school to decorate for prom. Like all juniors he was so excited to go to prom he talked about it all the time. So decorating was very exciting for him. He and his friend Miles decided they would take a little break from decorating to play a quick game of basketball. He went up for a layup and he collapsed…Luckily his friends knew CPR so they began doing that right away, while another one of his friends called 911. The paramedics showed up right away and took him to a hospital in Marshalltown. They did as much as they could in Marshalltown but the doctors knew there was nothing else they could do. The doctors said that the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota will be able to help Joe. So that night he was airlifted in a helicopter to Rochester.
I still remember that night. My parents and I were watching TV when the phone rang. My mom answered and was on the phone for a long time. I became very concerned when I heard the sound of my mom’s voice. She sounded so sad and scared. When she got off the phone she told me that “Joe had an accident.” A million things ran through my mind. Especially the last time I saw him. It was thanksgiving at my Grandparents house. Our whole family was there. Joe was being...well Joe. He is the kind of person who is always hyper, happy, and smiling. Nothing stops him from being happy. And well that can get annoying when you have someone around you constantly being crazy. My family does get a little annoyed with Joe but of course we all love him. Whenever we go to Iowa to visit my family Joe is always the first one to run up and say “Hi Meg I love you!” with his big smile on his face and give me a huge hug. This memory was all I could think of; Joe running up and hugging me. Then I thought of when he texted me a couple weeks ago saying that he just saw the Hannah Montana movie and loved it so much! Joe and I love Hannah Montana. But after thinking about all of this I realized I have never made Joe a huge part of my life. He was just my cousin who I saw at holidays. When we were little we would play together all the time but now it was like we didn’t even try to be close. This made me realize how much I really did love him, and needed to show him that.
When he arrived to Rochester he was still unconscious. He was rushed to intensive care. His heart stopped 6 more times that night. My aunt Lannette says she can remember the horrible sound of the machines and the doctors “pounding” on Joe’s chest to save him. The next day after we got the phone call I was so scared that I was going to lose Joe. My mom texted me during the day saying she was leaving work early to go to Rochester. I begged her to let me come to but in the end we decided I should stay in school the rest of the day and I would go on the weekend.
The weekend came and my mom and I made the hour drive to Rochester. Little did I know this trip would become so familiar. When we got there the first person we saw was my Grandpa. He was sitting outside the hospital on a little stool he carries around. Never have I seen my Grandpa so scared in my life. He told us he couldn’t handle being in Joe’s room anymore. Once again I had no idea what would be in store when we walked into his room. So we took my grandpa up to the room with us. Floor 5 first set of doors on the right. Intensive care. We went through 2 sets of big heavy doors. When we walked through the second set of doors I saw Lannette, my grandma and my cousin Courtaney. We were now all outside a room. “do you want to see Joe?” they asked. “yes.” We went in...Word could never describe how I felt seeing him. All i could think of was thanksgiving. Joe jumping up and down being so crazy and now he was lying in a hospital bed. Tubes in his throat and chest. I had never seen so many tubes and machines in my life. Lannette went over and took his hand and said “Joe, Meghan and Lorrie came to see you.” No response. The doctors began to take him off the medicine to kind of wake him up. “Go ahead and say hi to him.” My grandma talked to him, Court talked to him. We all did. I went over and took his head and through teary eyes i said. “Joe I love you.” The words he has said to me so many times. His eyes slowly open. he tries to squeeze my hand, and despite all the tubes in his throat and all he has been through so far his lips move. Slowly trying to say “I love you to.” By this point we are all in tears. I have never seen my Grandparents cry before. Now I know why my Grandpa couldn’t stand being in this room. But at this point in time it was so filled with love; I didn’t want to leave Joe.
I stayed at the hospital that night. The one thing that amazed me was how even though this horrible thing was going on my aunt was still her goofy, loving, silly self. Obviously she was scared to death that she was going to lose he son but she was thinking positive. Joe was in intensive care for weeks, and every weekend my mom and I would make that hour trip to Rochester. Sometimes we would go after school for a few hours. And on our trips back we began to see this place we later started calling “the city of lights”. At night it was this place that was so light up and pretty it looked like a million little twinkling lights. We decided when Joe got out of the hospital we would take him there so we could find out what it was. While Joe was in intensive care he had surgeries on his legs because they were not getting good blood circulation. The doctors had to cut on both sides of his legs and remove dead muscle. They didn’t know if he would be able to fully walk again. Joe just said “you’ll see, I’m going to walk out of here.” Finally Joe was out of intensive care. One day when we came to visit him I told him I learned the hoedown throw down dance from Hannah Montana the Movie. He said “DO IT!” so we had a little concert in his hospital room. Everyone was laughing so hard. And after the Hoedown throw down I sang the Climb to my mom grandma, Lannette, court and Joe. They all say I look like Miley so I was getting really into the song and dancing when a nurse walked in. We all laughed even more. This is why I was always excited to go see Joe. When most people think of visiting someone in the hospital they think of sitting around a bed quietly talking. That never happened here. We danced, sang, laughed, watched movies, ate, and goofed around.
In October, two months after Joe got out of the hospital, Joe, My Aunt my cousin Courtnay, my mom, our Grandma and I had a week together that we will never forget thanks to Make a Wish. It started on the plan ride to Florida. “Can I sit by the window?” was the first thing out of Joe’s mouth on the airplane. We laughed and goofed around the whole ride there. Joe was amazed by the air plane. This was his second time flying but now he will actually remember it. We got to the resort we would be staying at for the week called Give Kids the World. It is a resort set up by Make a Wish. Joe and I took some time to explore the village. It was great, a swimming pool, face painting; all you can eat ice cream (our favorite part) and so much more. The one thing I will always remember about this place is all the kids there. Despite their disabilities or diseases they were all so happy. They were smiling, laughing, having fun, and just being kids. That’s what Make a Wish is for. To let kids be kids. That week in Florida changed my life. Well Joe changed my life. He made me realize just how precious every second of our lives are. Each and every Make a Wish kid there was enjoying each second of their life, and their families were happy to. That’s what life is about, being happy. The Make a Wish foundation changes children’s lives by letting them just have fun.
“I love you Joe.” I have said that more times then I can count. The simple squeeze of his hand that day at the hospital taught me the true meaning of love. He has changed my life so much we have become so close. I would have never thought this whole accident with would change my life for the better. But it did, and i am so thankful to still have Joe and to have had so many good memories from our trip to Florida. Joe and i will always be so close with each other. I love you Jo
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Feature Story
Topic: Last year my cousin was in the hospitalfor 4 months because his heart stopped. We went to Disney land in the fall because of the make a wish foundation.
interviews will be things that were said during this whole experience.
interviews will be things that were said during this whole experience.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The SES Option (article final draft)
As the registration process for classes next year at Eastview ends, some students decide what classes they will be taking here while other students will be starting at an entirely different school next year. Juniors and seniors in District 196 have the option of going to the School of Environmental Studies. Approximately 200 juniors in the District decide to take a chance at this new school each year.
Among those 200 new students planning on attending SES next year is Taryn Halterman. She is choosing to go to the School of Environmental Studies for her junior and senior year because “They have core classes that are environmentally based so it will tie my classes together and give them more propose.” Taryn wants to become an aquatic animal trainer or a marine biologist so going to SES will help her to focus on classes that are directly linked to her career like the marine biology class and animal care class. Most students that attend SES love the fact that everything is hands on. Students also love the opportunity to be able to go on trips called field studies. One popular field study is going scuba diving in Curacao and seeing all the marine life. Students don’t only love the trips Kelley Polum who is a junior at SES now, says that her favorite thing about SES “Is that we discuss what is happening in the real world rather than useless facts and use what we learn instead of blowing it all away on the next test and forgetting about it.” Also another one of Kelley’s favorite things about her school is “The fact that despite us working on huge projects constantly, it usually ends up being worth something.” SES has a very different approach to teaching. There are more projects and fewer tests.
Some students like Shelby Gadke are choosing to go to SES simply because they need a change. “Eastview is not the school for me, I don’t like the cliques. The School of Environmental Studies will make me be happier and make me like school more and the art program is better there.” Shelby says. Most people believe that this school is only for people who want to have a career with animals or related to the environment, but often students go there for the art program (like Shelby). Other students go there to just change up their learning experiences.
The School of Environmental Studies and Eastview have many differences. One of the biggest is the number of students. Kelley says one of the reasons she chose to go to SES was because “I didn’t want to be just a number in Eastview’s large school population.” Many students like the smaller classes because the teacher will be able to help them more. The schools are even set up very differently. SES has houses similar to our clusters but there is a single big room in the middle. On the sides of that are “pods” where 10 students have their own desks. One of the biggest differences that Kelley Polum states is that “Teachers definitely expect much more out of you at SES in the fact that they don’t tell you what to do but you are forced to take leadership upon yourself and use your time wisely. The whole idea is to get us to grow up and be ready for the working world, where people won’t always tell us precisely what to do.” The mission of the School of Environmental Studies is to be a community of leaders learning to enhance the relationship between humans and their environment.
Among those 200 new students planning on attending SES next year is Taryn Halterman. She is choosing to go to the School of Environmental Studies for her junior and senior year because “They have core classes that are environmentally based so it will tie my classes together and give them more propose.” Taryn wants to become an aquatic animal trainer or a marine biologist so going to SES will help her to focus on classes that are directly linked to her career like the marine biology class and animal care class. Most students that attend SES love the fact that everything is hands on. Students also love the opportunity to be able to go on trips called field studies. One popular field study is going scuba diving in Curacao and seeing all the marine life. Students don’t only love the trips Kelley Polum who is a junior at SES now, says that her favorite thing about SES “Is that we discuss what is happening in the real world rather than useless facts and use what we learn instead of blowing it all away on the next test and forgetting about it.” Also another one of Kelley’s favorite things about her school is “The fact that despite us working on huge projects constantly, it usually ends up being worth something.” SES has a very different approach to teaching. There are more projects and fewer tests.
Some students like Shelby Gadke are choosing to go to SES simply because they need a change. “Eastview is not the school for me, I don’t like the cliques. The School of Environmental Studies will make me be happier and make me like school more and the art program is better there.” Shelby says. Most people believe that this school is only for people who want to have a career with animals or related to the environment, but often students go there for the art program (like Shelby). Other students go there to just change up their learning experiences.
The School of Environmental Studies and Eastview have many differences. One of the biggest is the number of students. Kelley says one of the reasons she chose to go to SES was because “I didn’t want to be just a number in Eastview’s large school population.” Many students like the smaller classes because the teacher will be able to help them more. The schools are even set up very differently. SES has houses similar to our clusters but there is a single big room in the middle. On the sides of that are “pods” where 10 students have their own desks. One of the biggest differences that Kelley Polum states is that “Teachers definitely expect much more out of you at SES in the fact that they don’t tell you what to do but you are forced to take leadership upon yourself and use your time wisely. The whole idea is to get us to grow up and be ready for the working world, where people won’t always tell us precisely what to do.” The mission of the School of Environmental Studies is to be a community of leaders learning to enhance the relationship between humans and their environment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)