8 | viewpoints | the roar
Service projects contain meaning besides obligation when Sunday came around, which is the day Hall House takes place every week, I started getting the same text messages: “Um... I have A LOT of homework so...” or “Well, I’m really tired so...”. Discouraged, I realized that a lot of my eva araujo friends would “talk the talk” but wouldn’t “walk the walk” assistant editor which is really cheesy, but true. I feel like a lot of people do that. In the summertime or around Christmas most people dive into service projects because those are the seasons to give back. Then There it is, that old decrepit structure. There it is, with it fades. The motivation is no longer there, and why its white paint peeling off the walls, while the wind blows not? People need help just as much as they did the making it shiver and creak in the cold air. There it is, month before or even more so now because waiting right by the blank-faced old man who sits so many have forgotten them outside the in his faded white plastic chair outside of the giving season. I hear people say, “This is cemetery. There it is. Hall House. the year I get involved in helping To most, this would sound like the out the community” but then opening scene of some creepy horror they remember that English movie, but this is no place for ghosts essay they have been putting and ghouls. Instead it is a place for off until the last minute or hope and new beginnings. It is Hall that history project and House. A place where people can service gets put on the list of turn something sad into something procrastination. happy. A place where others can It shouldn’t be like change the life of a child whose this. Why should we let dad left when he was just born, something so important and or a child who has nothing to eat necessary be a once-a-year when she gets home. A place where thing? Instead of being too individuals can make a difference. busy playing video games I began helping at Hall House or even sleeping, be too busy this past summer after becoming making the world a better place Artwork by Merritt Nolte-Roth extremely motivated by a few camp to play video games and sleep. counselors I met on a mission trip to Mississippi Start by joining a club, like this past July. They encouraged me to get involved in some kind of local mission work. I couldn’t just Habitat for Humanity or Leo. Trust me, helping out here and sit around anymore pretending that there was nothing to there around the community could change a person’s life be done in this town, that there was no one in need of help. and will definitely change yours. Being part of something That’s when I heard about Hall House, which I can honestly more than yourself and seeing a world where you are not at say has changed my life. The fact that I, a teenager, can help the center will only add to the value you find in yourself and the lives of other people that need it is such a blessing to me. the value you add to the world. Eva is an assistant editor for The Roar. Share your opinOf course I had to share this incredible gift with my ions on community service with her at the.roar.araujo@ friends, who said they had been wanting to get involved with helping the community ever since this summer. But gmail.com.
sketchy.
friday, dec. 14, 2012
rants&raves
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What is the worst gift you have ever received?
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“I broke my leg, and then got a bike.” Harrison Curtis, freshman
“A bag of soggy popcorn at a swimming white elephant party and it was really nicely wrapped but really soggy.” Shreya Shankar, sophomore
“I got a dog chew toy. They thought it was a plush doll.” Sabrina Hernandez, junior
by merritt nolte-roth “A teddy bear wearing a Justin Bieber shirt. If you pressed its hand, it sang.”
“Resolutions” What is your top priority? A+
grades 43% 45%
sleep 31%
Ryan Lawrence, senior
55%
social life 24% 320 students surveyed
“A portrait of me drawn by my grandmother. It didn’t even look like me.” Mrs. Morris, English teacher