Category Archives: 11-12 Students

Hero

Here is the story of my Grandmother, my Hero

 

On July 4th, 1947 my grandma Susan Kaye Jones was born as the first child to the parents Verie and Charles Hawkinberry. I chose my grandmother as my hero for several reason. The first is that she is one of the most confident and self-assured people I have ever know. My grandmother grew up in poor environment. She never had expensive outfits to wear and all of her clothes were hand-me-downs. Sometimes she would have to get lower quality items such as goat’s milk because they couldn’t afford cow’s milk.Though she also knew that her chance of attending college was slim because of finances, she was still a good student and didn’t discourage herself. When she was a child, she never let being poor affect her confidence. She carried herself with pride and was very content with her life. This is one of the reasons I admire her.

I also admire my grandmother for her smart decisions. In her teens and twenties, my grandmother decided to focus her education on learning a trade. Instead of going to a regular public school or college, she attended mixology school, which is basically bartending. She also went to secretarial schools that taught her how to manage a business. These decisions shaped her future jobs which were owning night clubs, tanning salons, and showing homes to hopeful buyers. These jobs helped my grandmother support her family after she got married. Even though many of these jobs required hard work and long hours, my grandmother made time for her family and friends by throwing big pot-luck dinners on the weekends. She also used the money she made to take her family to the beach every year. Her decision to learn how to work early in her life made it possible for her children to grow up with more financial security.

My grandmother is my hero because she is also very, very brave. In her later years, after her kids had grown up and had the grandkids that she loved so much, she and her husband opened a spa and tanning salon. A few years later she was diagnosed with a knee problem and over a period of six years had both of them replaced. Again one and a half years later she was diagnosed with lung cancer which was a result of smoking as a young adult. But now, after chemotherapy, she is still my grandmother living with my grandfather and still having fun with us. Throughout all of the surgeries and chemotherapy treatment, she remained courageous and determined to get better. She even kept working during this time and she was never too tired or in too much pain to visit with her family. Whenever we go to her house, she welcomes us with a big hug no matter what time it is.

My grandmother also showed a lot of determination. My grandma was very determined to be able to walk when she had both knees replaced. In her later years, my hero had to get both of her knees replaced with a plastic and metal implant. She struggled to walk and she was most likely going to have to use a cane, but now she walks on her own with no problem. Her determination helped her get back to normal and I am really proud of her for that.

My grandmother has had an impact on my life because she shows me that if you try, and you are determined, you can do anything. I love my grandmother, and she will always be my hero.

My Hero. Nick C

My Hero: Mathiel Tyrone Covington, a.k.a. Ty Covington

My hero is my grandfather. He was born in Washington D.C. and lived with his mother, father and his four siblings. As a boy, he played games with his friends like street hockey and basketball. He played basketball and football in high school. As a teenager, he had a job at a fast food place kind of like Sonic. They brought your food to your car. After high school, he went to George Washington University. In college, he was a waiter and a meat cutter at a butcher shop. Then he went to MIT for a couple years. Soon after MIT, he and his brother Gerald were drafted into the navy to be in the Vietnam War. In the navy he and his brother did different things. My grandfather was a technician for a ship called the Destroyer. While in the Navy, he learned to drive boats, read morse code, and communicate to other ships with flags. Then after four years, he and his brother returned home to Washington D.C. Shortly after he came home, he got married to my grandmother Charlotte Covington, then he spent the bulk of his life at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories where he worked as a computer engineer for thirty years.

My grandfather is my hero because he is a very brave man. He lives on a farm in Virginia. On the farm he had lots of chickens. One day on summer break, I was at his house in Virginia and we went to the chicken house to check on the chickens. We noticed that there were two small black snakes on the back wall. My grandfather was not scared to go in the chicken coup because black snakes are not poisonous, but he knew snakes are bad for chickens. So my grandfather went to his basement and got a rifle. Then he went right back to the chicken coup. At this time, I was about seven years old, so I was scared. At first I was hesitant to go in because I hate snakes. Finally, I worked up enough courage to go in with him. A couple seconds later, he pulled the trigger and “BAM!” he hit one snake, and then “BAM” again, and he hit another snake!! My grandfather was not scared one bit. That story about my grandfather is just one example of his bravery. I also think that his service in the US Navy showed his bravery as well. I admire him for that.

My grandfather is generous too. He gives gifts to his grandchildren all of the time. He also gives his family and other people that he knows gifts too. He has also paid for some of my tuition to attend Durham Academy and he bought me the new PSP 3000 with Madden 2011! I will always remember the time he bought a new Gameboy for me when I was little. He also bought a bouncy house for my cousins and me that we used at this house for many years, but now we are too big for it. He also bought $25 Gamestop gift cards for my friends and me for no reason at all. The best thing he’s ever given me is our yearly trip to a Washington Redskins game. He also takes my grandmother and my aunt. He offered to take my mom, but she does not want to go. It’s not just the game that’s fun, it’s getting to spend that time with my grandfather that is the best part. My grandfather is a generous and thoughtful hero.

I admire that my grandfather is very active. He likes being outside. One of his favorite activities is playing golf. Almost every summer, I go up to his house he takes me to a golfing range or course. We also play basketball together he and used to beat me all the time, but now I can usually beat him. When I’m at my grandparents’ house and my friends come over, he comes out and plays football and basketball with us. He also has a lot of work to do since he lives on a farm, so he gets outside a lot. He lets me help out his farm. I like it that he gives me responsibility. I cut the grass and help him fix anything that is broken. My grandmother usually gives me painting jobs. I like it that my grandfather is healthy and active enough to spend time with me outside.

My grandfather has done a lot for me and my family. He helped me with school and math when I was younger. Also, he taught me skills that I’ll need to know throughout my life. My grandfather has done a lot for me. I like spending time with him because we have fun when we are together. That’s why my grandfather is my hero.

Hero Book & Story (Drew)

This is my hero book, talking about a person I look up to.

Here is the story:

My Hero: Richard Hantzmon

by Drew H.

My hero is Richard Hantzmon. He was born in Garfield Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC. My grandfather was very educated and he graduated second in his class, from  the University of Virginia. He continued on to the University of Virginia Law School and became a Certified Public Accountant. He ended up creating his own accounting firm in Charlottesville, VA, which is named Hantzmon Wiebel. This firm is still standing today. When my grandfather was a young boy he would go bike riding with a kid named Clark Wardrup. They were very good friends and lived on the same street in Pennsylvania. Throughout his childhood he would go down to Florida with his family to their beach house, which was about a seventeen hour drive. Throughout his childhood, he mostly focused on academics, but still maintained a good social life. Throughout his life he had always liked the subject of physics.

Richard Hantzmon is my hero because he has great courage. About five years ago, my grandfather had a stroke and he has been bedridden since. In spite of this terrible occurrence in his life, this man has the courage to go on. About the same time he had the stroke, he was saddened by the fact that some of his family had to move further away from where he lived. Also, his wife, my grandmother also passed away. Even though life has treated him roughly, my grandfather still goes to physical therapy every week and tries to get his strength back. Though it might be impossible, he dreams of walking again and retraining his brain to function to it’s full extent again. Although I worry that it will never happen, he has a goal of coming down and visiting my family in North Carolina. My grandfather is very courageous for fighting to get his life back.

My grandfather is a hero because he exhibits perseverance. He is extremely motivated to get things done. Before any of my uncles or my father were born, my grandfather built his own house that still stands today. My uncle lives in this house still today and might never move out of it. This house is also special to our family. In this home, my grandmother painted a saying on the wall that says, Welcome to Our Home. This is important to our family because of this was maybe the last thing my grandmother painted before she passed away. My grandfather tries to return to his home whenever he can. My grandfather was the man who designed and built this home. He built it on a street called Foxbrook near downtown Charlottesville, VA.

My grandfather is also my hero because he is loyal to his family and friends. Though my grandfather may be handicapped, he is still very social. He spends time with his friends most everyday in his retirement home. When Thanksgiving comes around, he goes to dinner with my uncle and the rest of my family in Charlottesville. Even though he may not be able to walk on his own, he sometimes jokes about walking down to Durham and seeing us. Throughout his life, he was devoted to my grandmother. Even when he went to Australia, or worked in Germany, he still loved his wife until the day that she passed away. At the funeral, on the long white pews, he remembered all of the days they spent together that had passed by too quickly. Nothing could hold him back from the tears of 50 years. My grandfather has a big family, three boys and six grandchildren and he is devoted to each and every one of them. He works at keeping  good relationships with all of them.

My grandfather has been inspirational to me because of the way he has lived his life and the advice he gives me whenever we are together.  He has always told me that you can never stop. Even if things get really bad, there is always a reason to get up in the morning and to keep going. My grandfather, though paralyzed on the right side, still goes to rehab once a week, to try and be able to walk and get out of his wheelchair. He has been an inspiration to me and my family for as long as he has been alive. I think the best advice he’s ever given me is to never stop believing in myself. For that and many other reasons, my grandfather will always be my hero.

Here is the Book

 

 

Hero Story

 My hero is my dad. His full name is Shu Shiuh-Shieu Lin. He was born on May 7th, 1966 to Amy and Young Tso (pronounced “so”) Lin in Kaosiung (pronounce “kao-shung”), Taiwan. He has two older sisters, Janet and Kay. He lived in Taiwan until seventh grade. For seventh grade he moved to California with his family. After he graduated from high school, he went on to be a Cardiovascular and Thoracic (heart and lung) surgeon. He also became a professor of Immunology (branch of medicine and biology concerned with immunity) and Pathology (the science or the study of the origin, nature, and course of diseases). He currently lives in Durham, NC as a surgeon and professor at Duke Hospital. He has two daughters, Sydney (12) and Samantha (7), and one son/ dog, Gomez (2).

    As a child, my dad did not like to study and he was very athletic. He was always playing baseball or hanging out with his friends. His best friend in 5th and 6th grade was Vincient Wang, the leader and founder of their group who was a couple years older than my dad. They called their group fēng gǒu, or crazy dog group in English. His greatest achievement in grade school was in 5th grade when he won an essay writing contest. One of the most disappointing times was when he didn’t get picked for the competitive dodge ball team. My dad and his sisters fought, but not much. When they did, it was usually over food. Once his oldest sister, Janet, sat on my dad’s model airplane that he made.

    My dad is my hero because he is so kind. My dad really likes to play basketball and has friends that he often plays with. When he goes, I go with him to watch. During breaks, he teaches me how to dribble and shoot baskets. We always play until his teammates call him back. After basketball, he always asks, “Do you want to go get some ice cream?”  Of course I say yes every time! Another way my dad shows kindness is in the way he participates and supports me in all of my activities. On Sundays, I participated in Mr. Block’s weekend basketball camp. My dad would come with me and always be one of the parents who helped out. The fact that he was so helpful by being there, always boosted my confidence since I knew he had (and still has) a busy schedule.

    My dad is a hero because he is so helpful in so many ways. Not only does he save and lengthen people’s lives as a doctor, but he also provides for our family. My mom is a nurse at Duke hospital. She once told the story of a man that had just had surgery. He was starting to wake up when my dad, his surgeon, came by to check on him. The man reached up, grabbed my dad’s face and said, “I love you man,” then fell back to sleep. Later when I interviewed my dad he said, “I was just happy he spoke. And that he didn’t have a stroke. I understood his appreciation. People show their appreciation differently.” In my opinion, that man was lucky to have such a trustworthy surgeon.

    To do surgery you need a steady hand and lots of focus. Not only that, but you need to be trustworthy. Your patient needs to be able to trust you. My dad’s patients all trust him to do surgery on them. Another thing you need to be to be a good surgeon is intelligence.

    My dad did not like to study, but he was lucky that he was very good at it anyway. He said, “I was lucky. Also I was very persistent. Don’t be afraid to have to work hard. There is no free lunch, you need to work hard.” After finishing high school, he got into Harvard University. He graduated from Harvard University in 1988. After Harvard, he went to medical school, internship, fellowship, and residency at Duke University.

    My dad has influenced my life by teaching me how to play basketball and chess. Also he has inspired me to keep doing what I like to do by showing determination. I’m lucky to have him as my dad, because he really is a true hero.

My Hero Story

In LA class, we all picked a hero who was someone we knew and admired. I picked my dad. Once we had written the story, we made colorful books to paste them into.

This is what the book looks like:

This is my dad:

 

MY HERO

Stanton Paine C.

by Lexi C.

My hero is my dad, Stanton Paine Coerr. He was born on December 26, 1942 in La Ceiba, Honduras. In his childhood, he lived in a lot of different places because his dad was a diplomat and had to travel.

In one place, Dad said he went to a school where no one spoke English and he never understood anything they were saying. But he got a laugh every day when he said the boys would dunk the girls’ pigtails in the ink pots behind them. Although Dad said he never did this, I don’t believe him.

My Dad also had a lot of trouble with his mom and dad when he was a kid, since they were divorced. He went to boarding school for this reason, and at boarding school, they had Honey-Bunn ® Fridays. He said that every Friday, the students would get a Honey-Bunn ® from the cafeteria, and they were very valuable. For example, someone would say, “Hey, if you do my homework for a week, I’ll give you my Honey-Bunn ®.”

My dad also had some awesome pets. There were two main pets that always seemed to show up in his stories. I loved hearing them over and over again. The pets were Lola the Parrot and Monte the Dog. Here are some stories about them:  Monte was a very nice, sandy brown German Shepherd. He was by far my Dad’s favorite dog ever, and there is a nice picture in our house of a young Dad hugging Monte. My dad and Monte would like to go out into the yard, throw things around and wrestle. He said that Monte liked to run off during the day and then come back when Dad or Dad’s mom called him. However, this really confused Monte when Lola the Parrot came to the house, but we’ll get back to that later. The funniest thing Dad said Monte EVER did was the Great Oil Paint Massacre. My Dad’s mom loved to paint very simple and beautiful oil paintings. She had a whole room of paint supplies, and one day, she put up a blank canvas to start painting on and was about to get going on it, but then she remembered that she needed to get something from the store. When leaving, Grandma left the door to the paint room open and didn’t really pay it any mind. My dad speculated that Monte walked into the paint room and sniffed at the paint. Then he chewed on the rubber tube and decided it felt good, so he bit into it, causing the paint to get all over his mouth. Then he spit it out and tried to do the same with EVERY other paint tube. Finally, when he was satisfied, he must have gotten some paint on his head and the rest of him. I’m sure that didn’t feel good, so he rubbed on the carpet and the wall and the furniture and such. You can imagine the shock of the family when they got home and found their home green and blue and yellow and green, with furniture and carpet ruined. But the funniest part of it all was that Monte didn’t get a bit of paint where it was supposed to go: the canvas.

Now here’s a story on Lola. “Lola was very good at impressions,” Dad said. “She was a parrot from the jungle and liked to mess with our minds. She could do a telephone impression better than the telephone could. She would sit on a rock out in the backyard and go, ‘Bring! Bring! Bring!’ until someone tried to  pick up the real phone and found no one on it. Then it would just go crazy in the house, every one of us, my mom, my dad and my sister, Suzan, all running and trying to get to the phones we hadn’t checked.

“Also Lola would like to sit out on that same rock and call, ‘Monte! Monte! Dinner!’ while I called the same from the other side of the house. Monte would run into view and kind of look back and forth from where he heard Lola calling and where he heard me. It was very funny to watch Monte try and figure out which voice had the food.”

The worst thing that happened to my dad when he was a kid was falling out of his aunt and uncle’s car. These were in ‘Ye Olden Days’, when cars didn’t have seat belts, and Dad was messing around with the door handle as they drove along. After awhile,he started pushing the door open, and Dad fell out and onto the side of the road. His mom and dad had been following his aunt and uncle to go somewhere, and they saw him tumble into the grassy side of the road. They all rushed to him to see if he was okay, but he said, “That was awesome! Let’s do it again!”

Once my Dad grew up, he had some very weird and cool jobs, much like the very weird and cool boarding schools he attended. One time, he worked at NASA in the international relations department and got to travel to Russia and also accompany Russian scientists on their trips to the USA, which always included a trip to Disneyland ®.

There’s a funny story in that NASA job: the story of the Forever Forgotten And Lost Satellite. This began when the company wanted to shoot a satellite into space. It was an older one, the kind that looked like a silver basketball with little spikes piercing it. The way they launched satellites was with a big rocket that fell off when the basketball made its way into orbit. NASA launched the rocket and the first part fell off. Then the other parts fell off until they couldn’t even see it. Well, if they couldn’t see it, they assumed it must have gone up into orbit! The launch team cheered and the guy who tested it for the radio station said, “Hey, it’s really working well!” Then he saw the little basketball roll into the room. He sighed and said, “And it’s getting louder!”

After working at NASA, my dad went into banking and worked at Wachovia.  He was able to travel to Japan because of this job and learned how to use chopsticks there, which is much cooler than learning at a Chinese restaurant. After that, Dad worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, and was leader of the team that set the air quality standard for the metal, lead.

Finally, Dad started his own business, Coerr Environmental, to work on environmental issues facing the natural gas industry. He worked for individual companies, including the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and the Gas Research Institute.


That was how Dad met my mom. Mom applied for a job at Coerr Environmental in 1994. Dad and she were the only single people in the office at that time, so they ended up doing all the work on nights and weekends. They go to know each other well and fell in love. Then, one week after their official first date, Dad set a card at Mom’s desk that read:  Happy One Week Anniversary! Then, every week, there was a card at Mom’s desk saying Happy whatever week anniversary for a whole year. In the end, Mom had 52 cards in a book to be saved forever. And on the last card, the 52nd… Dad asked Mom to marry him on it. He was very romantic.

Mom and Dad had their wedding in Bermuda, and they sailed down in our boat, the ‘Byron Hill’, named for Dad’s grandfather.

After a long time, once I came along, Dad thought we should all take a trip together on the boat. We went to the Bahamas and lived on the boat while we were there. Dad taught me how to play harmonica and told me some stories. One of the simplest stories was my favorite:

“Do you know why this boat is called the Byron Hill, Lexi?” Dad would ask.

“No,” I would say.

“That was my grandfather’s name. He loved to think about sailing, but he never got around to doing it. We would sit together and look at boating magazines and he would say,

‘Isn’t that a pretty boat, Stan?’

And when I got old enough to get my own boat, I named it after him.”

On one of our boat trips, when we were going to St. Martin which is a half french half dutch island, Dad actually saved a guy from drowning, which was a pretty heroic thing. That is one of Dad’s awesome personality traits. The guy’s dinghy was floating out to sea and he was swimming after it. Dad jumped out of our boat with our little lifesaver floaty ring. He brought the guy onto our boat where the saved man said, “Merci, merci, merci.”

My dad in general was very kind and caring. He went to college at Williams which has the mascot of the purple cow. Then, once he finished there, he went for another few years at Princeton. When I was one or two, Dad got me this little stuffed purple cow from Williams and sang a cute little song about him, that was very funny and nice of Dad. I loved him for always finding ways to make me feel special and loved.

So that is my long story about Dad. What can I say? He’s my Dad, and I love him. He has meant so much to me, and he really started me on my writing. The reason that I want to write now is because he would tell me little stories about himself and stories he made up about one of my stuffed animals, Belle the parrot.

“I was in the jungle in the nest,” my dad would say in a funny voice. “And there were seven of us, all little baby parrots, and the nest was a mess, so I just got on the branch of the tree, and would sleep there. But sometimes at night, I would hear this little noise…” and then it would be my turn to help with the story. I would scratch my fingers on the side of the bed to make a noise, and dad would yell in Belle’s voice: “PYTHON!!!!!!!!!!” And we would laugh.

So that’s really everything, and I hope that now you know a little more about my dad, Stanton Paine C. My Hero.

My Hero Project

Here is a project we’ve been working on since early winter where we single out an individual in our lives who we think has been a hero and interview them about themselves to make a book about it. I chose my neighbor, Diane Leusky, who works for the Blue Ribbon Mentors.

 



The Story




My hero has wisdom beyond her years. I can think of nobody better to write about. The point of this project is to do something special to honor our heroes, but this story has an equal chance of being important to others. In writing about my hero, I only hope I can make this story feel as real as it did when she told it to me.


Diane Leusky has a passion for gardening. Every leaf on every tree in her yard is always green when I pass by her house. She lives in my neighborhood, and so I know her very well. There is an aura around her that makes her seem ageless, and thus, timeless, and I did not know that she was sixty-eight until recently. She was born in Coatsville, Pennsylvania, in the year 1944. Her hair and eyes are both brown. Mrs. Leusky is currently married and has a few cats. An average person you say? No, Mrs. Leusky stands out among millions of others for what she’s done to help others.


Paulina, a girl with a family from Mexico born in the United States, was and is today an exceedingly bright girl. She is about eleven, around my age. The only trouble Paulina ever had in school was due to the fact that she had a hard time learning more about our native language, English. Around the time Paulina was in third or fourth grade, Mrs. Leusky joined the Blue Ribbon mentors, a program designed to see that children got help with life skills. Little did Mrs. Leusky know that she would be much, much more than just a mentor to Paulina. I had the opportunity to meet Paulina and she was very kind and had good manners. We were able to spend the day together. We baked, ice skated, painted in water color, gardened, and made jewelry from scratch-string and beads! Imagine my surprise when Mrs. Leusky told me that I had inspired Paulina’s desire to play the piano! I’m dismayed to admit that I didn’t really understand how much she enjoyed all of the activities until she wrote me a beautiful thank-you note. I was so excited when I saw that she barely misspelled a single word!


I think I should start with something that links Paulina and Mrs. Leusky. Like courage, self-control, and overcoming fear. Paulina was afraid of dogs when I first met her, and she’s really gotten brave since then. It was about three months after that I learned she had a little difficulty learning to swim.


Mrs. Leusky had been afraid of water for over thirty years when she learned that Paulina was in the same boat. It started when she went camping with an old friend. They headed out for a seaside cliff miles out in the countryside. Her friend had planned for them to jump off the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Gray rocks formed an incomplete circle around the sand and when they jumped off, they hovered for a moment, then safely fell into the lukewarm water below. The experience was so thrilling that Mrs. Leusky and her friend entertained themselves for hours by throwing themselves off the rocks and landing in clouds of white, bubbly sea froth. However, on one of their last jumps, something went terribly wrong. Mrs. Leusky couldn’t find the rocks she had jumped off only minutes ago. It was getting dark and the water got colder. She tried to swim back toward the rocks, but the undertow current snatched her and dragged her down under the blue waves.


 Mrs. Leusky stayed calm and tried to find the surface. There it was, bright and wavy, reflecting the sun. And whoosh! She was sent tumbling helplessly beneath the waves. Her conscious body fell through the water like it was thin air, dizzy and lacking oxygen. Bright white light, black rocks, and crystal clear water hurtled through her vision like a bullet. Mrs. Leusky couldn’t breathe! In a blind panic, she thrashed among the waves and sandy bottom, fighting for air. She began to tire. Slowly her efforts grew weaker and weaker until all she could do was float beneath the treacherous waves. A blackness began to take over her, easing her mind with its bittersweet promise of rest. And then her arms were wrapped limply around someone’s neck. Mrs. Leusky gasped for air as she was pulled from those dark clutches of eternal night and into the bright world by none other than her friend. Luckily her friend was training to be a lifeguard and remembered how to save a life.


Years later, long after she had given up any hope of ever conquering her fear of drowning, Mrs. Leusky was faced with Paulina’s fear. For the sake of another, she bravely swallowed her fear and helped teach Paulina how to swim. Following Mrs. Leusky’s example, Paulina found the courage to learn how to swim. She did very well when my mom, Mrs. Leusky, and I went with her to a pool during the last week that local pools were open. We coaxed her to go off the big water slide with me twice!


I don’t know if this story will have a happy ending, but I’ve done my part to make it so. My hero is wise, kind, and brave and she leads a perfectly humble life. Mrs. Leusky has impacted my life in so many ways! It’s hard to use words to explain how. But if I had to explain, I would say that she’s probably the closest person I know to being perfect. I admire how much she’s sacrificed to help others and still be kind to those who don’t really need any help. I hope that one day I will grow up to be a good person like Mrs. Leusky.













My Hero
 




Here is my hero picture, story, and book.




My Hero: Violet Perry


By: Taylor Owens







My hero is Violet Perry she is 64 years old and was born on May 21,1948. She currently lives in Pittsboro, NC. She has a fabulous family, a loving husband, Eric, a wonderful son, Joshua, a sweet daughter in-law, Becca, and two amazing grandchildren, Sammy and Mason. She is currently President of a design and building company. When she was little she loved school! Her favorite subjects were English and Science. Amazingly, she learned how to read when she was only four! Another reason she loved school was because of how she got to be away from home when her parents had loud fights. She told me that pretty much the only good memory of her childhood was when she went to her Aunt Betty’s and hiked on the big bluffs with her cousin, Iris, and tried to push the goats off. When Violet was little she didn’t have a best friend because she never stayed in one place for much longer than three months. Now she has two best friends who include my grandmother, Gail, and Laura who currently lives in Florida.


During her childhood, Violet lived on farms in Hallsvile, Missouri that her dad share cropped on and they were very, very poor! Church was the center of their social life. She always looked forward to Sundays because she would get to play tag with her cousins and go to big picnics. Her parents divorced when when she was seven years old and she and her three siblings, her brother, Alva, and her half sisters, Cathy and Linda, went to live in their grandmother’s cold dark attic. Cathy, Violet’s older sister was very mean to her. Once, Violet went outside to go to the farm’s out-house style bathroom and her sister,Cathy, scared her as she came out. She was terrified of the outhouse for a long time after that. When Violet was eleven years old, her parents had a custody fight over her and her brother. Sadly, for Violet, her dad got custody of her and her brother.  Her step-mother did not like her new step children so she treated them badly. When Violet was fifteen, she ran away from home and lived on the street. She spent the night in old smelly cars for awhile, but she was eventually declared a ward of the court. After that, she spent her childhood in many different foster homes.


My hero shows so much perseverance. Violet Perry is one of my family’s best friends and she is like another grandmother to me. I have known her all my life and she is so kind to everyone, even though she went through some really hard times in her life. For example, when she was younger her father wasn’t very nice too her and when she was seven her parents divorced. She also has had cancer and a very recently has had a heart attack. I admire Violet because she continues to be a good person even though circumstances around her aren’t always positive.


My hero is also very caring even though she didn’t experience many caring people in her childhood. For example, she is a sponsor to a child from Africa who needs extra help and support. She cares very much about other people and she gives them confidence in themselves. She also never puts herself first. When I was younger and scared at night, she came in my room and sang me a lullaby to get me to sleep. I remember another time when I fell into a freezing pond and Auntie Vi was there to rescue me! She put me by a really warm fire and made me feel better.


Violet is my hero because she has a lot of faith. For example, to get over her troubling past, she has drawn on her faith in God. The spiritual part of her has kept her focused on the good in the world. She always says, “Honesty above everything,” and “Be happy that you are you and no matter what, love yourself.” That is good advice and helps me when I get frustrated.


My hero has had an impact on my life showing me that you should enjoy life while you can. She has also taught me to show the people you love how much you care about them. I am so lucky to know Violet Perry and I am thankful that she is a part of my life.




 











Hero Project
 




Here is my Hero, Hero Story, and my Hero Book.






 


 


                                                                                            Hero Story




                                                                                     By: Logan Fogleman







                        My hero is Jessica Jova and she is my horse-back riding trainer. She was born June 6, 1979 in Columbia, Missouri and moved to Noth Carolina when she was only eighteen months old. Jessica is 32 years old. She works as a veterinarian technician, and cares for horses. She lives in Chatham County. She has a husband named Bill, and one brother. When Jessica was a little girl, the first horse she owned got sick and died. Jessica says this is one of the worst things that has ever happened to her.


                    Also, during the first year she had her pony, she fell off at every horse show! I think this shows great determination because Jessica didn’t give up, she just keep trying.  I would get frustrated if I fell off ever time I competed in a horse show. Horse shows would not be as much  fun. That didn’t happen to Jessica though. She kept going until she got it right. Also, Jessica shows determination when her horse is not doing what it is told. She keeps trying. I admire Jessica for her determination.


                  Jessica is my hero because she is one of the most dedicated people I have ever met. One example of her dedication is that she feeds her three horses, Taylor, Darlington, and Logic twice a day, everyday without much help. It takes a lot of responsibility to care for horses, as I have learned. I’m not sure if I would have the passion to get up in the mornings in the cold and feed the horses and sometimes put blankets on them. Jessica also has to feed the horses at night. If I had to feed three horses I would probably have to hire someone to help me!


                 I also look up to Jessica for her courage. One day, we were tacking up her horse, Logic, and he spooked which in the horse world means got scared. We’d forgotten to undo the straps on Logic’s blanket before we took it off, so this. Now when a one thousand pound animal is scared, they can be very unpredictable. If you are timid and scared as well, then the horse may decide that you are not in control. This scares them even more and it gets easy for them to “push you around” or even worse, hurt you! I sometimes have that problem, but you can’t do that or things could become out of control. Because Jessica is so courageous, she didn’t freak out. She just calmly unhooked the blanket and got it off of him. She was very calm because horses can sense fear, and that might make them more nervous. The situation was under control in just a few minutes thanks to Jessica. I hope I can learn this trait from her!


                            Jessica has impacted my life by helping me strive for my best in horse-back riding. She also has a great personality. When I am around Jessica I fell like I should try my best. I really enjoy going to horse shows with her because I don’t get as nervous when I know someone is there to help me and make sure I know what I am doing. I had a horse show this week and it was one of the most enjoyable shows ever. I appreciate Jessica’s willingness to teach me horse-back riding very much. She also inspires me to never give up, don’t over react, and to always “put your heels down”. She teaches me a lot, and I wouldn’t be where I am in horse-back riding without her. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have her as my horse-back riding trainer. Thank you Jessica!













Hero Story and Picture
 




 


 


My Hero: Spencer Hallyburton


by: Scott H.


Spencer Hallyburton was born in the Chapel Hill Hospital on December 6th, 1995. He is my older brother, and I admire him. My parents tell many funny stories about the two of us growing up. As a baby, Spencer had some ups and downs. While born very healthy, his hair was very thin and light blond. If anyone tried to rub his head he would immediately start screaming. He loved a song by the band Hootie and the Blowfish. He would stop screaming when my parents played the song and he would start singing along. He was very interested in sports at a young age and loved Dr. Suess books. When I was born, I would sometimes cry for a long time. Spencer’s solution would be to put on headphones and read. We have had a lot of fun as brothers, and he has had a huge impact on my life. I look up to him and think of him as a hero. Here are some of the reasons why.


 


Spencer and I attend the same camp each year. About half way through the summer, we both signed up for a hiking trip. The hiking trip was called the Hardcore. The Hardcore was a hiking trip in the Pisgah National Forest for three days and we would hike about 50 miles. When we got there, it started to down pour. We had to put up our tarps fast before we got soaked. Spencer helped me put up my part because I was younger than most people one the trip. After that, still on the first day we were going to hike twenty miles.When we were about half way there when we were hiking up a huge mountain called Cold Mountain I had had some sort of heat stroke and I could barely walk. Spencer took my day pack and carried mine as well as his. I felt much better after that. That is one of the times my brother showed helpfulness and kindness. I admirer my brothers kindness and helpfulness because I have always tried to be kind and helpful and Spencer is one of the reasons that I am that. Spencer is also helpful because he helps build me up in many ways.


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


Spencer has always been a good brother and student, as well as an athlete. He has always been on the advanced track for math and always works hard to do everything he needs to do. When he took the PSAT, he had scored almost perfect in Math and had done very well in English. He has been sent many letters from colleges telling him that they are interested in him. He also has a lot of common sense when he is driving. He is also a great athlete. He plays Soccer, Basketball, and lacrosse. He is very athletic and that helps him with everything else in life.I admire Spencer’s intelligence and athleticism because he makes a great role model for me and I hope that one day I will be something like him.


 


When Spencer and I went to Falling Creek Camp together, we both decided to go on a white water rafting trip on the Green River. It was a fairly easy level river but Spencer and I were just starting out. It was a very hot day out and Spencer and I were dehydrated. I had had a headache and paddling became harder. My brother had shown great trustworthiness and fortitude because he also had headache but he kept both of us going. I admire his trustworthiness very much.


 


These are just some of the traits that my brother has. I know that there are other but these are some of the best I think he has. He is 16 right now and he has helped me through my entire life to become the person that I want to be when I grow up. He has had a huge impact on my life and I really look up to him.


 


 













Will’s Hero Project
 






My hero is my oldest brother, Robert Jackson. He was born in Logan, Utah on November 3, 1992. A lot of his childhood was spent moving around from house to house, place to place. He started off as the only child in my family. When he was six weeks old, he moved to California. While he lived there, my other brother, David, was born at Stanford hospital. Robert grew up there for a little while and then moved to Austin, Texas, when he was two years old. He lived there for four years, where he started kindergarten, and then moved to Durham, North Carolina when he was six. He finished kindergarten there. When he was nine he moved to Argentina for four five months. When he came back, he started fourth grade at Durham Academy. He graduated last year in June 2011 and is now a freshman at Stanford University.


Robert demonstrates achievement because he got into Stanford. He was always a good student who worked hard, paid attention, and liked school. He was also busy outside of school and participated in activities such as working robotics at Duke and doing stream research. He also liked to play sports such as Discus and Frisbee. When he wrote his application for colleges, some of these activities helped get him in. He applied early decision to Stanford University and received a letter that read, “We applaud you.” He left for college last September.


I chose Robert as my hero because he has a lot of ingenuity. He demonstrated this ingenuity through his accomplishments in the program MONS (Mars Outreach for N.C Students). He and his friends worked to study Mars. They designed, built, and created an experiment for a Mars robot. Then they wrote up their results and took them to a conference in Texas.


I respect Robert because he is well-rounded, organized, and balanced. He knows how to keep sports, academics, homework, and sleep balanced so that he doesn’t do too much of any one of them. He always has free time because he knows how to get his work done efficiently and have time left for fun. He spends time with his friends and family, likes doing origami and math, and accomplishes all of his academic goals as well.


Robert has influenced my life because he is always willing to stop what he is doing and help me at anytime. He offers advice for school and helps me out with homework. Robert has impacted my life because he is a cool, awesome bigger brother that I can count on to stand up for me. I have always looked up to him for doing this.