Category Archives: 11-12 Students

Hero

This is my hero story and picture:

 

My Hero: Bruce C. (AKA my dad)

by: Virginia C.

My hero is Bruce Capehart. He is my dad. He was born on October 29, 1965 in Columbus, Ohio. He currently lives in North Carolina with my sister Camille, our mom Tracey, our dog Seuss, cat Molly and me. When he was younger, he also had two dogs named Maggie and Sam, and two cats named Freddie and Lisa.. He has a younger brother, my uncle Alex. My dad’s younger life was pretty different from mine. He walked to and from school, he did not have as much homework, so he had more free time. My dad did not play on a sports team, but he played a lot of football with friends in his neighborhood, and enjoyed reading about history. He went to Texas CHristian University and Southwestern Medical School. Now, he works as a Psychiatrist. He works with veterans who come home from the war, and have trouble with their emotions after returning to real life..

One of the traits I admire about my dad is how hard-working he is. Sometimes, my dad will stay up really late to finish a project, and only get a few hours of sleep. He drives me all over the Triangle so I can play soccer, even if he has work to do. He works a full-time job and almost another half of one. He gets up really early some mornings so he can go to work and get back in time to take me and/or my sister to soccer. He never complains or makes a big deal out of all he does for our family and that makes me proud.

In my opinion, my dad is very brave and courageous as well. He was in the army for a while. Even though that wasn’t his job, he worked as a medic part-time. He left our house to go and train for a few days each month when I was younger. I remember asking him, “Why aren’t you going to be here for my birthday?” I didn’t understand why he had to leave when I was turning really young. Now that I am older, I know that he gave me the best gift of all. He was protecting my family, our friends, and our country. I admire my dad’s courage, and he has taught me to not be afraid in challenging situations.

Another trait that I appreciate in my dad is that he is very honest and reliable. For example, if you tell him something, he won’t tell anyone unless you want him to. He is always very honest with everyone in my family. If there is something I need to say, but I am not sure how to say it, my dad makes it easier for me. I always know I can count on my dad to help me handle my problems and that he will respect the parts I want to keep private.

Those three traits are just a small part of all of the good things that make my dad a hero. I am very lucky to have him in my life, because he has taught me to be honest, to keep my promises and do what I say I will do. He has shown me by example to always work hard, and take some chances. This is why I chose my dad as my hero.

My Hero

This is my Hero story,

My Hero, Robert Sanguily

by Michael S.

My hero’s name is Robert Sanguily. His nicknames are Rob and Dad. He is age 46 and counting. His birthday is July 2. He was born in the year 1965. He owned and ran a small furniture business and he now helps run a nail restoration company. He currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has one brother, one sister, a father, a mother, a wife, three sons (including me), and a daughter. I know this person because he is my father. My hero’s childhood was a very exciting one that I sometimes wish I could experience. He went to a Catholic school with nuns and friars as his teachers. If someone misbehaved, they would hit them and for the girls, they would make them kneel on pencils. When he wasn’t in school or doing chores, he would play in the woods next to his house. He once told me a story from his childhood about having a mud ball fight where he, by some miracle, threw a mud ball and it landed right in the mouth of one of the guys he was playing with. The guy went home crying and told his mom that they stuffed the mud in his mouth but my dad’s mom defended my dad as well as his friends by reassuring them it was an accident. He would also dig foxholes in his backyard and play fake war with his brother and friends. Not only did my dad have a fun and exciting life, he also had to work hard to get things he wanted. He worked to get his own bike. He had his own paper route delivering newspapers. He had a lot of responsibility early in his life.

My hero shows great generosity with his time. Being a dad takes a lot of time and energy. My dad provides a home, a warm bed and three meals everyday for our family. He also makes time for fun. He takes me shooting his pellet gun and he once took me shooting at an indoor range with real guns. Another time he took my sister and me to a field where we shot off model rockets and then we would chase after them. Sometimes they would go into trees and we would never find them or they went across the street and we had to go and get them. It meant a lot to us that he would plan something fun like that for us to do together even though I know he was probably very busy with grown up responsibilities.  He is always there if I need help or if I need advice. I am blessed to have a dad who enjoys spending his time with us.

My hero has been very successful in his life. He ran a very prosperous furniture business for fourteen years and he now runs a flourishing nail restoration company. He is successful at everything he does. He has successfully raised a family of four children with his wife, my mom, and keeps us in check. I think that he has succeeded to the fullest extent in life.

I also admire my dad for his sense of humor. My hero is one of the funniest people I know. He can almost always make me laugh and I can sometimes make him laugh. He makes up hilarious jokes. He can make you fall down in laughter. He will tell a joke and all of us will crack up. He also sometimes tells me stories of his childhood that were very funny. We play games with my brothers. We like to play face-time hide and seek. One time playing, my brother commented that my dad had “cracks” in his eyes. We all laughed very hard at that.

My hero has had a big impact on my life. First, he is a great dad who does a great job raising my siblings and me as well as being a good husband to my mom. He provides everything we need by working hard in his businesses. He has taken me places only a dad would take you. He has paid for a good school for me all my life. My dad has made my life so much better by always being there. I hope I grow up to be a hero like him.

This is my Hero book,

 

This is my Hero,

My Hero

My Hero: Jamie Dilweg

by Erin D.

My hero’s name is Jamie Dilweg. She was born on April 27, 1966 in Coral Gables, FL with three sisters and a brother. Jamie is my mom and currently lives with her three kids and a husband in Chapel Hill, NC. She went to school at South Miami. My mom went to middle school and high school at Coral Gables. Her friend as a child was Wendy Burman. Her absolute favorite food in the world is chocolate cake.

As a child, my mom really liked school. Her favorite subject was English. For fun she played hop scotch, rode her bike around the neighborhood, and climbed trees. Once when my mom was climbing a tree she fell and broke her left arm. She had to go see a doctor and get a hard cast. She had to wear the cast for at least a month. When she finally got it off and she was really relieved.

My mom is my hero because she is very caring. She is caring in many different ways. First of all, she is always there when I need her. She also hugs me like no other mom in the world. She hugs me with love and care as if I was the most delicate thing in the world. One time she actually drove about 30 minutes in the car just to pick me up from my friends house because I wasn’t having fun. Afterward, she stayed with me for the rest of the day making sure that I was okay. She is very lovable. When I was little she would always read to me at night and make sure I went to sleep. She would also let me sleep in her bed whenever I had nightmares. She is the best mom.

My mom is my hero because she is very patient. She would wait and wait for me whenever I was slow. In the mornings on the way to school. I would sometimes be late getting dressed and she would wait for me with patience. She wouldn’t get mad at me. She would wait patiently for me downstairs or in the car. Another example is when she helped me with my homework, she was always so patient if I didn’t understand something. She would just help me through it and make sure that I got it right. She would help me with many tough assignments and remain patient. Another reason is that sometimes I forget to pack everything I’ll need for homework. Even if we are already driving away from school and she will turn around so I can get the books I need. That is why I love and appreciate my mom.

My hero is also very inspirational. I want to be just like her when I grow up. She’s able to keep our house clean which is almost impossible! My mom is also very successful and very kind. She loves to make people laugh. If someone is sad or something is wrong, she will use her great sense of humor to cheer us up them up. She is successful because she graduated from Duke University, a very competitive and well respected school. She sets positive goals for our family. For example, our family is very busy with sports in the afternoon. Often times, it woud be so much easier to go out to dinner and skip the healthy homemade meal. She usually insists that she make dinner so that we will have food that is good for us even though it is a lot more work for her. She cares about us so much and I want to be just like that when I grow up.

My hero has impacted my life by showing me what being a real mom is like. She does everything right, and shows me by her example what it takes to be a good person. That is how my mom has influenced my life. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

My Hero Story

My Hero: Dr. Gerald Grant

By Colin Grant

The person in my life who has had the most impact and who has helped me the most is Dr. Gerald Grant. My hero was born in 1969.  I also call him dad. My dad is more than a dad, he is my hero. My dad works at Duke university as a neurosurgeon. He gets up early in the morning to go to work and usually comes home late at night right before I go to bed. I love the weekends because he only has to leave in the morning and go and see each of his patients. On the weekend he gets home at about lunchtime and we have a family lunch. My dad grew up in Rockaway, NJ. He had an older brother named Tim. Tim and my dad were very competitive with each other, so they weren’t always nice to each other. My dad was always smaller and still is smaller than Tim. My dad is six foot two and his brother is six foot five. My dad took karate during his childhood so that he was able to compete with his brother. Also he played the piano through middle school. My dad played a lot of little league sports when he was young. The one that he played the most was basketball. He really wanted to play basketball in high school but he wasn’t tall enough to make the team.

In high school my dad decided that he wanted to get involved with medicine. He was inspired by his mom who was a nurse. Also during high school he volunteered to help out in the emergency room to get to know more about what you needed to be a doctor. My dad went to college at Duke University and since my dad couldn’t play sports, he got very interested in band. He played the alto saxophone all of his four years. He had to work hard, but it paid off because he got to go to many Duke football and basketball games, including two final fours. Also my dad was very dedicated to his academics and getting good grades. My dad never got a bad grade in college except for the time that he took a scuba diving class.

My dad is a very determined person. My dad was always determined to get good grades throughout his school career and he did. He leaves for work early and arrives ahead of schedule every day. He also works very late into the night, sometimes getting home around ten thirty. My dad saves many children’s lives each day. He also has to leave for many trips for workevery month and some are out of the country. Even though I do not see him that much, he still is determined to get home and spend time with my brother, my sister, my mom and me.

My dad is also a very confident person with his ideas. One time, when my dad had to serve in Iraq as a doctor, he was there for four months. Even though he was away and working ninety nine percent of the time, he would to call us almost every night. When he was in Iraq, there was a big jeep that was blown up by a mine. Everybody in the jeep was severely injured. They flew everyone that was in the jeep back in a helicopter. The soldier who was driving the jeep got a mine shell stuck in his head. Everyone thought that he was going to die and no one thought that it was worth it to operate on him. Everyone thought it was a waste of supplies.  My dad was very confident and took the risk. He had to operate very quickly but carefully. Also, in order to remove the shell, he had to take part of the soldier’s skull out. He was very confident that he could make him better even though the surgery was very difficult. After the operation, most of the supplies that my dad used had almost run out. Later, the soldier was sent back to the United States to recuperate. After my dad returned from Iraq, he had to take a trip to Washington D.C. for a work meeting. While he was at the hospital where the meeting was being held, he got to see the soldier that he had operated on. The soldier was there getting a replacement for the part of his skull that my dad had to take out. In the war hospitals, after a doctor would operate on someone, the doctor would never get to see that person again or be thanked for it. So when my dad got to see him again it was really reassuring. He knew that his confidence paid off and operating on the soldier was the right choice.

Also my dad is a very caring and fun person. My dad cares for a lot of different children where he works, but he also cares for me. My dad gets all the time he can to have fun with me. He takes me on skiing trips, he takes me zip lining, and he makes time to have fun even though his work schedule is very busy. While doing this he also cares for me. He makes the most out of the time he has with me.

My dad is my hero because he is a very determined, confident, caring, and fun person. I admire him very much. I admire him because he works very hard every day and saves lives. I also admire him because he still comes home and spends time with me. I want to be like him when I grow up.

Hero Story

   My hero’s name is Todd Phillips. Todd is my uncle. He is 49 years old and was born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 5, 1962. He is the CEO of a major textile company, but he still lives with my grandparents. When my uncle was a kid, he loved to play baseball, football, golf, and go fishing. The first sport he played was baseball because that was my grandfather’s sport. Soon, he got tired of baseball so he started to playing football. After that, he picked up golf. He fell in love with the sport. He was always at tournaments with my grandfather. He stills plays golf a lot and also took up fishing when he was a little older. In his free time he always goes fishing. Now he competes in tournaments with his fishing friends.


My uncle is heroic to me because he never gives up. When he has a problem he won’t give up and works hard until he is able to fix it. For example, my uncle was in a fishing tournament and he couldn’t catch a fish for a long time and his opponents were winning. So he then decided to go to another part of the lake and try again and finally, he caught some fish. Even though he didn’t win, the next week and the week after that until he finally won! He never gave up until he won a tournament. My uncle perseveres in all areas of his life and I admire that about him.

My uncle is also heroic to me because he is very creative and sometimes acts like a kid. I remember when I was little, if I was upset about something, he would take me out to this fishing store where there was a parrot and tons of fake fishing bait. He would buy  a lot of fishing tackle for me that looked like lizards, snakes and frogs. We then went home, we hid it in my mom and my aunt’s purses. They saw the bait and screamed. They were scared so badly they wouldn’t talk to us very much. Fortunately, after dinner, they were fine. My uncle and I laughed so much about that prank. He also made up funny plays for us to perform such as ‘the three stooges’ or ‘the ankle sprain’.

My uncle is heroic to me because he always tryies to make people happy. One day, my uncle took my sister and me on a fishing trip to Jordan Lake. I remember when we were sitting in the boat fishing my uncle noticed that my sister was getting sad because she hadn’t caught a fish yet.  So my uncle tried to catch a fish for her with her Barbie Fishing Pole. He started fishing and all of a sudden caught a ten pound catfish on that tiny little pole. My sister squealed with delight and I remember we were laughing so hard we almost fell out of the boat!!  The fish kept wiggling and squirming around making us giggle even more. He was able to make the whole day fun for us.

My uncle has had a big impact on my life because if I didn’t have my uncle, I wouldn’t know how to forgive and forget. He taught me that when I would get upset with anyone, he would just make me happy and help me feel good about myself. He has always been there for me and he will always be there. My uncle has inspired me in so many ways. It’s pretty amazing how someone can have such an affect on your life. He is funny, he taught me how to fish, and he is always willing to play baseball with me. He has always been like a kid around me and someone that I really enjoy spending time with. He is and always will be my hero.

My Hero

My Hero

By Ellie P.

My hero is my grandfather, better known as “Poppop” because that’s what my brother, my sister, my cousin and I called him. He was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, but grew up in Paulsboro, NewJersey. Poppop grew up on a farm with his four sisters. He had two older sisters named Elizabeth and Bertha and two younger sisters named Judy and Dianne. Poppop’s attended a good school. He said thatschool was lots of fun and his favorite subjects were History, Literature, because he loved to read, and PE because shockingly men’s gymnastics was very popular. School was also challenging for him because he was always the youngest in his class. He ended up graduating from high school when he was sixteen! After high school, he went to Southern Illinois University.

After college, he went to South Korea to help protect the border. This was after the Korean War ended, so he wasn’t in the actual war. When he was there, he met my grandmother Su, who at the time was a model. They returned to the United States and had five children: my mom Diane, and my four uncles Jimmy, Mike, John, and Jason. After all of his kids grew up, my mom had me, so he moved down to help. After he moved down to live with us, he took my brother, my sister and me to school every single day. We got to spend a lot of time with him. He got liver cancer in July of 2011, and passed away on August 9, 2011. If he was here, he would probably say his greatest accomplishment was all of his children and grandchildren, and his greatest disappointment was probably that he passed away too soon.

Poppop is my hero because he was one of the most dependable people I’ve ever know. Ever since I was three years old, he was a part of my everyday life. No only did he take us to school each day, but he also helped out in the summer as well. When we were in summer camp, he would also pick us up at the end of the day. Even after he was diagnosed with liver cancer, he still made sure he was there to pick us up. One time my dad picked me up but no one knew who he was because they all thought Poppop was my dad. He was always caring to my brother, sister, and me, and was always there for us. For that he’s my hero.

Another reason he is my hero is because he was so smart. He taught me a lot of what I know. He taught me how to swim and to dive. He also taught me some German, some Korean, and what serious road rage looks like. He also showed me how to play a lot of sports, especially baseball and water sports. He helped me become a better diver and to do flips off the diving board. It was great to have someone who was just like a teacher for everything. I could ask him “How is this problem done?” or, “How do I do a back flip off the diving board?” and he could give me the answer. I admire how smart he was, and hope I’m that smart someday.

The last reason Poppop is my hero is because he was funny in a inspiring way. He inspired me to do most of the things that I do. He inspires me to get good grades because he always wanted me to do my best. But he did it in a unique way, that was really funny. He would call me dumm kupf (German for stupid head), or he would tell me a story about when he was little. He would always make everything more fun. He also inspires me to play baseball, soccer, dance, and swim because he was always trying to teach me those things. He inspires me to do well in everything that I do.



Although Poppop may not be here anymore, he’ll always be my hero.

The End

My Hero Tyler S.

My Hero: Frank Young

     My hero is my grandpa. His name is Frank William Young. He was born on July 21, 1950. He is my hero because he is a good person who has conquered adversity in his life. This is his story:

As a kid, my grandpa lived in a city in Missouri and loved to ride his bike. He would play stickball in the street with his friends until a car came, and then they would jump out of the way yelling, “CAR!!!” He got married when he was young and had three children who were all girls. When he was about twenty years old, he started having problems with his knees. He found out that he was suffering from arthritis. It is not common to have arthritis at that young of an age, so he has been very courageous to have dealt with that type of pain for most of his life. Even though he is often in pain, he makes everyone around him happy. He makes life seem fun at all times and always succeeds in cheering me up when I’m sad or mad.

My grandpa is a hero to me because he is very optimistic. Every day he wakes up to a new day of pain and tries to make the best of it. He never complains and is full of joy. He is a ray of sunshine to everyone around him. When things are looking down for you, he will turn your view around. For example, when my brother lost at bowling, grandpa made him see it was a chance to improve on his throw. I admire him for being able to see the positive side of any situation.

Another reason that I chose my grandpa as my hero is that he is very kind and forgiving. One time, when my grandpa was a kid, he was hanging from a pole at school, and someone pushed him. He had to go to the hospital and woke up with his two front teeth pushed up into his gum. The next few months my grandpa had to stay home and drink food mushed up through a straw. When he went back to school, he didn’t change the way he treated the person who pushed him. He quickly forgave him and moved on. This explains why my grandpa is very kind. If you do something to anger my grandpa, he will forgive you. When you do something bad, he will not hold a grudge. He puts things that have happened in the past into ancient history. In other words, he will not be mad at something that you have done a long time ago but not told him about. For instance, when my mom finally confessed about something she did, he laughed about it. Here is what happened. We were visiting my grandparents and my mom was talking about stuff she got away with. She told us about the time she hurt herself badly. She was biking down the street and was looking at the ground because of the way the gravel looked. She did not see where she was going and ran into a pole. She came home with a huge bruise and did not tell them. When my grandma heard this she was shocked. My grandpa just let out a huge laugh!

Another reason my grandpa is my hero, is because he is very energetic. Whenever my family and I go to see my grandpa, we go bowling and he always plays with us. He wins every time! He also goes out golfing with my dad and uncles when we visit him. His hobby is wood working, and my brother and I help him mow the lawn in the summertime. He always finds time to play ping-pong with us or do other activities with his grandchildren.

My hero is all of these things and more. These are just some of the reasons my whole family and I love my grandpa so much. He has taught me how to have fun in life no matter what and that it doesn’t matter what other people think. My grandpa is my Hero.

 

 

 

 

Hero Project by Cami S.

My Hero:  Sophia Mai Simpson

by: Cami S.

During the Vietnam war in the 1960’s and 1970’s, my mom grew up in Saigon, Vietnam. She is my hero because she is courageous, determined, and caring. Life was unpredictable and unstable when she was a child. Because of the war, she never knew when she would be able to sleep through the night peacefully. Many nights she was awakened by the sound of  bombs and they had to go under the stairway for shelter.  Even though things were hard, she still had friends, brothers, and sisters like any normal child. Her parents could not afford to buy toys, so she and her brothers and sisters made their own toys from things they found around their home. Sometimes they would catch bugs and flies for entertainment!  She went to a good French school, because even though they didn’t always have enough money to buy food for their family, her parents believed strongly in providing their children with a good education.  Her parents only finished fifth grade. When the communists from the North took over their city, she didn’t go to school for three whole years! Her parents made the very difficult decision to give her up to an orphanage so she could leave Vietnam in hope for a safer and better future. They loved her so much they knew that it would be her only way out. Just as they predicted, the Red Cross went to Vietnam to rescue orphans and bring them to America for a better life. She had never attended Middle School, and only spent 2 years in High School in New Jersey when she reunited with her sister Lydia who she had not seen for almost thirteen years! As if this story alone doesn’t make my mom a hero, here are few more attributes that make her my hero and an amazing person.

My mom is very brave. One of her most courageous moments was when she saw a girl from her school and the girl’s family of seven get kicked out of their home by the communist soldiers. She convinced her mother to hide them in their small house.  This took courage because they could get in very serious trouble with the Communist soldiers for doing this. They could throw you in jail or execute you! She was so very thankful for her mother’s support. My mother could not turn her back on people who were in need. The girl was named Stella and she is living safely in Taiwan with her family!

My mom is also a very caring person. She shows how much she cares about people in many way. She risked her own safety to help Stella’s family and she treats her own family with the same kind of generosity and love everyday.  She and her mom supported the orphanages in Saigon by giving them food even though her own family lacked everything they needed to survive.

My hero is also very strong. Since my mom’s mother helped the orphanage, they let her send my mom with them to a different country. The groups all went to different locations so they dropped my mom off in Taiwan. She was supposed to be picked up by a family she had never met, and she didn’t have any money or know the language. That must have been terrifying for her! Back then, to get out of the airport, you had to pay your way out. Well, since my mom had no money, she was stuck in the airport until well after dark. Finally, the family came in looking for her. She must have been a very strong little girl to take on all of those challenges at such a young age. She came to the new country, eventually learned the language and started earning her own money.

After a few years in Taiwan, she managed to reunite with her big sister. She flew to New Jersey in America and met her sister. Then she had to learn a whole new language! So now she is quite a polyglot and speaks Vietnamese, Cantanese, Mandarin Chinese, French, and English! She has had a great impact on my life by encouraging me to do the right thing, appreciate what I have, and give to others. I am so proud of my mom and she will always be my hero.

Hero Project

My Hero: Lauri Klein

by David K.

My hero is Lauri Klein. Lauri is My mom and lives with my brothers and dad and me. Throughout my mom’s childhood, she did many great things. My mom was born on November, 4th in 1968 and lived in Long Island, New York during her childhood. She helped with her community and actively participated in her synagogue. My mom always enjoyed walking into town with her parents to get ice cream or to sit on the dock and watch the boats go by while throwing bread to the ducks. She also loved hanging out with her friends and once old enough would cross the street daily on the weekend to play with her friends from her neighborhood.

One of the reasons I chose my mom as my hero is because she is a very loving a kind person. She loved her sister so much that she just couldn’t wait to wake her up in the morning to play. My aunt loved my mom too, but did not enjoy getting that early morning wake up call. My grandmother had to make a rule that my mom could not wake up her sister until 7:00 in the morning. My mom had to learn to read a digital clock so she would know when it was 7:00. So every morning after that , my mom would watch her digital clock until seven. Then she would run down the hall saying “Haha it;s seven o’clock, time to wake up!!!!!!!.” In this situation my showed her loving nature for her family.

Another trait that I admire in my mom is perseverance and determination. In fourth or fifth grade, my mom came home from school really happy. She told her parents that at school there had been a mock trial. A mock trial is a preview of what a real trial is and what lawyers do. My mom had to act as if she was a lawyer trying to win a trial. My mom said to her parents that from that day on she wanted to be a lawyer. She went to law school after college and studied very hard to achieve her goals. In order to be a lawyer in a particular state, you have to pass a very difficult test call the Bar Exam. She went on to pass the Bar in the states of North Carolina, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. It took a lot of hard work and determination to learn that much about the law! My mom is a lawyer today and a woman who perseveres in all challenging situations.

My hero shows lots of faith, courage, strength, and patience.

On December 24, 2011 Christmas Eve, my dad called my mom and I while we were running errands for Mitzvah Day. Mitzvah Day is when the Jewish community gets together and helps the poor and needy. My dad called to say he was not feeling well. There were no doctor’s offices open, so he had to go to the hospital. After about thirty minutes he called back saying that my mom needed to go into the hospital to get the full story on how my dad was doing. She was scared, but showed faith and courage while she worked out all of the details of getting to the hospital. She had to find places for my brothers and me to spend the night as well as calling friends to help her with her with other obligations.

The next day was Mitzvah Day. It was one of the best turn outs the community had in a while. But one person was not there, our mom. About three hours into Mitzvah Day, a woman showed up in big sunglasses that were hiding her tears. It was our mom. She was weak and devastated about the news she had gotten from the hospital, and yet she still came to Mitzvah Day to make sure everything was going well there too. The news about my dad was that he had a heart attack and would have to have triple bypass surgery. Throughout the week long ordeal, my mom did a great job keeping everything together for our family and staying strong. She showed lots of patience sitting for hours in the hospital with my dad before, during and after his surgery. This is meaningful to me because without my mom’s strength, our family would have had a long struggle through this ordeal.

My hero is very determined, patient, and loving. She has also influenced my life by raising me to be a good person. She has taught me right from wrong and shown me many different ways to accomplish what I set out to do. My mom drives me almost everywhere and is able to control three wild boys. She does a great job keeping up the house while my dad is not around and organizing stuff for us to do if she can not be around. My mom is an amazing person and I am proud to call her my hero.

 

 

Hero Project Book

My Hero: Danielle K.

By: Jack E.

My hero’s name is Danielle K. She works at Duke University at the Duke cancer center. She was born in Middletown, Connecticut and had nine sisters! She now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She also goes to Duke Physicians Assistant School (PA School). Here is the story of my hero:

Danielle started gymnastics when she was in second grade. She enjoyed gymnastics and was very good. However, when she was in 9th grade, doctors found a teratoma tumor in her abdomen.  She ultimately had to quit gymnastics because the surgery would take her out for four months. Missing that much time in a competitive sport like gymnastics would make it difficult to get back to her current skill level. The weekend before her surgery, she went into competition and won three gold medals in the events that her doctor allowed her to compete. It was a great finish for the end of the sport she loved.

One trait that describes my hero is caring. I was at my friend’s house and we were getting ready to leave for the Ronald Mcdonald house to help kids with cancer. Danielle is a very busy person with loads of studying and work to do for school, but that day she chose to spend time helping the kids at the house. We prepared a meal for the sick kids and their families. Later that night she was up late working and studying for school. After that day, I realized that she was one of the most caring people I know.

Another trait that would describe my hero is devotion. I was with my friend Austin, Danielle’s son, and we were playing at my house. Every time we would pass through the living room, Danielle was studying. For the rest of the weekend, all she did was study for her tests later in the week. I was thinking to myself that I don’t think I could ever be that dedicated to any one thing for that long. She had a lot of self-discipline and I admire that about her. I was astonished that one person could be so devoted to something.

The third trait that describes my hero is her generosity. I remember one weekend my dad had to go out of town and he asked Danielle to take care of my sister and me. She said yes and took care of us for that whole weekend even though I know how busy she is. I never really realized how helpful and generous with her time she was then, but now that I look back, I realize how nice that was of her to take care of us. She is always willing to give time to help us and I am very grateful for that.

My hero has impacted my life in many ways. She always spends time with me and she is a great person to talk to. I can always talk to her about what ever I am thinking about. She helps my family get through the day by helping us move around and be there when we need her. I am so grateful for what she does for me and my family. She will always be my hero.