Monthly Archives: January 2012

By Luis Samarripa

Rough Draft

At the age of 27, Chad Hymas’ life changed instantaneously when an accident left him paralyzed.  President of his own communications company and an internet marketing company, Chad has been recognized by the state of Utah as the Superior Civilian of the Year.  At 37 years old, he is the youngest person ever to receive the CPAE award and be inducted into the National Speaker Hall Of Fame.  As a member of the National Speakers Association, Chad spoke at more than 220 events last year and travels as many as 300,000 miles a year.

Chad is also the author of the regionally best-selling book Soaring to New Heights.  Chad’s topics focus on leadership, teambuilding, customer service and mastering change.  He will not only inspire, but he will motivate people audience; he will create an experience that will touch everyone’s hearts for a lifetime.  Chad just wants to make a difference and help people realize that it is not always about them.

When he came to Meeker, and came to our school, he opened everyone’s minds to be better people, to encourage themselves, persevere, and to go far in life, no matter what obstacles are in the way.

By Calvin Shepherd

Rough Draft

                I never really knew how he got the way he was.  I would never describe has as dumb, he just misunderstood a lot.  He could hardly hear, and made the biggest influence on my class and most of all me.

                Elementary School, 5^th grade.

                Yes, I was immensely interested in the show “Prison Break.”  I was addicted to the thrill and the problem solving skills it took to break out.  I took me awhile to figure out how simulate the exact reenactment of the show, Bruce was there to help.  Cubbies around the school where used to hold the entrance to the school.  These cubbies became my prison cells.  Bruce was my warden and guard.  Days went faster by running the streets after an escape and being escorted to my cell by Bruce.

                Middle School came around and games became more and more lame.  Bruce being able to listen and work with me became my full time partner in classes.  Bruce wasn’t that hard to work with, he couldn’t understand which resorted to me doing most of the work.  I didn’t mind.  It was good for me and him.  We got work in the halls and got a lot more done.

                Without knowing how Bruce was and how happy he was even with his unfortunate disability, I don’t think I would appreciate the things I do today.  Bruce’s hard work and dedication to the sports he wasn’t able to play helped me to become better in sports because he never gave up even from the sidelines, neither did I.   Bruce’s abilities changed my life.

Name has been changed to protect Bruce’s privacy.

By Dom Devore

Rough Draft

Adversity is one thing, but this takes it to a whole new level.  On March 1^st 2011, it is published in “The New York Times” and “Mail Online” that the European Court bans gender as a factor in insurance.  This basically means that the ‘gender equality’ ruling means young men cannot be charged more for their car insurance – even though they are ten times more likely to have a serious crash.  Also pension and medical will have to be adjusted when the new ruling will become permitted on the 21^st of December this year. 

An example would be car insurance.  The Association of British Insurers’ predict that women drivers under the age of 26 may face a 25 percent rise in car insurance rates, with a 10 percent drop in rates for men within the same age group.  Currently, the standard practice across Europe is to base insurance rates on statistics about differing life expectancies or road accident records of the sexes. 

A woman driver under the age of 22 pays around $2,604.24 in car insurance while a young man is charged an average of $4,257.82.  This is because men under 22 are ten times more likely to have a serious crash, 25 times more likely to commit a driving offence and twice as likely to make an insurance claim. 

The risk difference between the sexes becomes less pronounced as both get older.  But the ruling means that in future gender cannot be taken into account when accounting premiums.  That means age will become the overriding factor when calculating insurance.  Hence young women can expect a rate hike of up to 25 percent.  But at the same time, an income a man receives for life from his pension will be cut by as much as 8 percent. 

Insurers grudgingly accepted the ruling, but said the change will be bad for customers and they maintained that their current policies were fair.  They insisted that the typically longer lives of women should be taken into account when offering life insurance policies, for instance.

Currently millions of insurance policies take gender into account.  The court ruled that practice as inappropriate since there are myriad other factors that could be considered.  Gender, however, is typically easy to check and can point to sound statistical conclusions, the industry says. 

A statement the court said to this was, “Taking the gender of the insured individual into account as a risk factor in insurance contracts constitutes discrimination.”

Until now, discrimination in setting insurance rates has been explicitly permitted under EU equal treatment rules.  It allowed the market to fix the price of a financial product based on the statistical likelihood of a person having an accident, falling ill or dying.  All EU insurance policies will be affected by the new ruling.

By Perla Romero

Rough Draft

Adversity is that struggle we most have yet to face. Most think its applying to human, but yet it applies to all from a broken tree branch, from a dead plant, to a dolphin tail. My story applies to how not only humans suffer differences, but so do animals. No one really pays attention to it.    

          This is where neglect starts to happen, we treat animals like they’re not worth anything, but they’re actually worth more than what you think. The movie Dolphin Tale is based on a story centered on the friendship between a boy and a dolphin whose tail was lost in a crab trap. The dolphin now isn’t normal just because he lost one little part of his body and isn’t able to swim very well.  Life is challenging and you just must keep moving, because if a dolphin can learn to swim without a tail and overcome adversity, so can you!

By: Sidney McCourt

Rough Draft

Adversity is a part of life. Everybody has hard times.  So why do some individuals overcome while others don’t?  It’s all about the way you choose to handle the adversity. When something bad happens like an injury or loss of a loved one, it can make you feel like there is no end to your problems.  You feel like there is no way out. But adversity can be a lesson.  If you have lost a loved one you come to appreciate the people you have in your life, and spend more time with them.

Sometimes misfortune can come to you because you need to change.  For example, there is a movie about a man who led a life of crime.  He had never planned on seriously injuring anyone but he accidentally hits a boy with his car and kills him.  He is sent to jail. Where he finds God and turns his life around.  Instead of coming up with excuses or sulking, he completely turned his life around.  It’s a perfect example of overcoming adversity.  There were probably reasons he was the way he was.  But instead of dwelling on them, he went to church and became a better person.  

My dad would also be a good example of overcoming adversity.  He grew up in a very abusive home, physically and verbally.  He was given no money, or even a ride to leave for college. But even with all the damage his family had caused him he still managed to make a good life for himself. He is now very successful and a very good father. He is this way because he is determined.  He could have given up because of how hard it was and just blamed all his problems on his parents, but he didn’t. He pushed through and made his life better.  He has three siblings who did just that though, made terrible decisions and blamed their family, and none of them have a good life because they chose to dwell on the adversity instead of pushing through.  Even though the abuse was hard to deal my dad still manage to overcome all of it, because he knew what he wanted and he had the determination to do it. 

Adversity is unavoidable.  It’s better to just accept it than fight it. You can control your attitude about it. 

“Recognize misfortune for what it is: an opportunity to lift yourself to a higher level.  Sailors caught in a storm should pray not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear.  Why should they accept the storm?  Because a smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.”  – Chuck Gallozzi

A great way to deal with adversity is to remind yourself that it could be much worse. Whenever I’m down I have to remind myself how little my problems are compared to a lot of other peoples. Like whenever I’m mad at my parents I think about how terrible my dads’ parents were to him and how lucky I am. No matter what the problem it could always be worse. Don’t let adversity control you. Have hope, believe in yourself. Have a deep seated notation that “I am a good person. What happened to me is not right or fair, but I can’t let this define me or my life.” So in conclusion, there is no avoiding adversity. Everyone has problems, some bigger than others. But everyone can learn and grow from adversity. It’s all about attitude.

Rough Draft

Emily Cardile

1/9/12

A new pair of socks.  A simple fall to the floor.  What was thought to be a simple broken arm.  What turned out to be a complicated broken arm that needed surgery, two weeks of in-cast recovery, ten weeks of physical therapy and the long relearning process.  Although this would be considered low on the scale of difficult adversities to overcome by many people, it was one of the biggest in my life.

It terrified me.  I was afraid to go through with it.  The word its self scared me.  Surgery; a terrible word for a 14 year-old to have to think about.  I did it anyways, and it wasn’t as bad as it seemed to be. The recovery afterwards was worse than the surgery itself.  Except for when I was asked to put on the hospital gown by myself with one hand, and had my Sprite and gold fish knocked off the table and sprawled across the floor by the nurse, I don’t really remember much.  I do remember the recovery.  For the longest time, I couldn’t do anything at all.  I couldn’t support my arm without a sling, or take a shower.  I had to take baths and wash my hair in the sink.  I couldn’t brush my hair, or eat, or pick things up.  I had to learn to do everything with my left hand, which was quite a challenge for me, since I’m right handed.  The little bit of luck I got was that I was homeschooled through all of this.

 The doctor didn’t believe in me.  He didn’t think I could do it.  He told me I would never regain full mobility.  I had to work hard, going to one physical therapy class after another. I had to work on it at home, and while I was there.  I had to get all the strength back in my arm, and the mobility in my elbow and wrist. I basically had to relearn how do to everything all over again.  I went to physical therapy three times a week, for ten weeks. 

When this time was up, I did what the doctor said I couldn’t.  I gained all the mobility back.  I relearned how to draw, and eat and do all the everyday activities.   Everything was close to back to the way they were, minus the three inch scar down my elbow, the four screws in my bone, and all the memories of the event. All it took was a little perseverance.

Rough draft

By Kiana George

Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does. 
-William James- 

What if just the simplest thing you do makes a big impact?  This is not an “if”, this is a reality.  Everything you do, no matter how small, can affect EVERYTHING. I mean everything. This is what happened to Chad Hymas.  Just one mistake changed his world forever; April, 3 2001 Hymas’ life altered when one 2,000 pound bale of hay fell on him leaving him a quadriplegic.  Though his legs and most of his upper body died that day, his spirit did not.  He has done much after that day including:

• Setting the world record for wheeling his chair from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas.
• Spoke on 5 Continents and 4 Countries.
• Hymas is the youngest ever to receive the CPAE award and be inducted into the National Speaker Hall Of Fame.
• The Wall Street Journal calls Chad Hymas one of the 10 most inspirational people in the world.
• He is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional).
• He plays and is in basketball, rugby, wheelchair racing and officiating basketball.
• He has fulfilled his fife dream of being a cowboy and is raising 5110 head of elk with his father, Kelly Hymas.
• And not the last or the least, spending many hours with other injured individuals in therapy, encouraging them to overcome their challenges, focus on dreams and make them a reality, and to love life for all that it has to offer. To achieve the unachievable and to reach for the unreachable.

This man has done so must in his lifetime and is still will for many years to come. So ask yourself before you make that bad decision.  Think how this will affect me or everyone else.  What have you done today?