Humans of Lovejoy
Rachel Kuhn
“I think there’s been a lot of [hard things I’ve gone through this year]. The loss of my mom was pretty hard. [I have a] tattoo [that] says spirit, and it’s my mom’s handwriting. She used to write me different cards for birthdays, holidays and other special events and in one of her cards to me, she would always talk about my spirit. It would say, ‘that’s one of the most important things that you have’ and ‘don’t lose track of your beautiful spirit,’ just stuff like that, so I thought that would be the nicest thing to have on me because it’s almost like there’s a piece of her with me at all times.”
Rachel Bradley
“I don't remember exactly how old I was, but we went to [Disneyworld] with my immediate family and I remember sitting on my uncle's shoulders watching a parade. Thats one of my earliest memories in my life. When you walk into Magic Kingdom or the Disney Park for the first time, and you see the castle, you just look around and you can see all these faces smiling and everyone’s so happy. It's just a place where you can go and you can forget about all the tragic things that are happening in the world and you can just spend time with your family and friends or whoever you're with and just be happy and surrounded by magic. You get to be a little kid again.”
Morgan Garrett
“I think just seeing how much people have grown and how they have found comfort and security with their sexuality or gender identity [is the biggest reward from starting the Gay-Straight Alliance]. I’ve seen so many underclassmen grow so much, even just in the year. It’s so rewarding to know that so many of them feel safer now in the school hallways, which was ultimately our goal. This group has taught me a lot and the people in it have taught me so much more. Even through them learning to accept themselves and their own sexual or gender identity, it’s helping me feel more comfortable in any flaw that I have, even if it’s not regarding my sexuality, it helps me know that it’s OK for me to be whoever I want to be, because there are people in the school that accept that. It’s a safer place.”
The Coopers
Tami Cooper: “We both taught at the same school but we didn’t really know each other. He taught upstairs, I taught downstairs. About 2 or 3 years later we both ended up divorcing our spouses and Ray, at that time, worked somewhere completely different. I went in to have my name changed.” Ray Cooper: “I worked at central office in the technology department and so she came in to get her name changed back to her maiden name and that’s how we really met.” Click to read more...
John Stallings
“[My hobbies include] music and astrophysics. [Music, to me, means] a method of expression. There’s some things that can’t be described in the ways we know how to describe them. Art and music are a good way to describe those, and also nostalgia is a really cool kind of sense you can bring about, especially with music, just like how a certain smell or tune can bring back a memory. Astrophysics, on the other hand, is the study of cosmology, which is the study of the cosmos and the universe and all the things that make up the universe and that happen outside of earth. Astrophysics is really cool to me because it is different from what happens every day. I really don’t like the repetition of day-to-day life, and it’s really been starting to get on my nerves recently, the same thing over and over again; it sucks. Astrophysics reminds me that there’s more to the repetition of life.”
Jaden Jostrand
“Choir started everything for me. I didn't even know I liked to sing. It was School of Rock in eighth grade; they gave me a part with a solo and I was so mad. I remember thinking, ‘there’s no way I’m singing,’ but then, I loved it. So then I got really into choir and I found out I was really into singing and music especially. I just think it’s crazy how all the chords from a human’s body can go together, and it’s really rewarding that our choir is good, so that makes me love it.”
Sonali Mehta
“The whole point of what I do in speech and debate is to tell stories for people who can't tell their own stories, people who can't speak for themselves. It makes me feel like I'm doing something that matters. Last year, after going to the state tournament, I was a semifinalist so I was portraying a woman with anorexia and after the round, there was a boy who came up to me and told me that his sister had anorexia and that he didn't understand what she was going through and why she couldn't just eat. He told me that after hearing my performance, he now understood, and that my performance really impacted him in a way that he could understand what his sister is going through. And ultimately, I didn't make finals but it didn't matter because something like that was enough.”
Coach Greg Christiansen
“You get a new favorite memory every season. The biggest ‘thrill’ really is seeing kids start to put themselves out there and step on that scary ledge and really start to push themselves. They have these breakthrough races or workouts and that’s when they really start to define themselves as runners. Seeing some of the younger kids starting to believe in [their capabilities] and becoming more comfortable with pushing themselves farther than they have before, it's unbelievably rewarding.”
The Red Ledger • Copyright 2024 • FLEX WordPress Theme by SNO • Log in