The Vow: Classic ‘Chick Flick’ and Tear Jerker.

Review by Kaitlan C. 

The Vow is about a young married couple who recently endured an almost fatal accident leaving the wife, Paige without any memories from the past couple years. Leo, the husband, tries to win his wife’s heart back. Paige offers no easy answers because all she can remember and prefers to live is her life with her stuffy upper class parents and her ex fiancé, who secretly is trying to get Paige away from Leo. 

Rachel Mcadams, playing the role of Paige, adds spice to the movie with her sex appeal and ability to switch from one personality, a city-dwelling artist to another, the high class law student that her parents want her to be. Channing Tatun plays the role of Leo, and fits it fairly well, this actor is in many different romance movies which mean his emotions and reactions tend to be predictable, but this barely took away from the movie. Channing Tatun is sexy and acts and looks like the “role model husband” that every girl wants. He masters the art of tuning his emotions towards the film’s needs. He acts innocent cute and dorky adding a hint of humor to the movie.  

The director Michael Sucsy successfully moved the story in ways that would keep the viewer interested, for example in every breath taking, tissue grabbing moment there was an upbeat quirky moment to follow, preventing the movie from becoming overly depressing. Also the movie is based off of a true story, which is not revealed until the end, which makes the emotions during the film more believable. 

The movie did lack a great amount of special effects and music, the few songs that were in the movie were placed during a wedding, where Leo tries to dance with his wife. The words “I always prayed you would come to save me, I believe you’ve returned for us at last”. This line hit me the most because this was when Paige starts to feel love for Leo again.  

This movie was definitely a “rent it don’t buy it” movie, it is well worth the money to sit at home in a warm blanket and cry over ice cream and pop corn over, although it is not a movie that is worth seeing over and over again. It has its ups and downs as does every movie, it lacks a good soundtrack and special effects, but it does hold the audience captive itching to see the next tragic thing happen.

  Kaitlan C. is a Grade 12 student who is qualified to write this review because she enjoys romantic comedies and long walks on the beach.

Student Shock: Effective January 9, 2012, students will no longer be able to purchase coffee

No More Java: How will we survive?

by Ashley M.

 

Just recently the school board has put a new ban in place: a coffee ban. 

Before Christmas break signs were put up in the cafeteria stating “Effective January 9, 2012, students will no longer be able to purchase coffee at the cafeteria. Coffee will only be available for staff only.” 

Students at Fredericton High School are not happy that they can not buy coffee from the school. “There is more caffeine in tea and if they had good coffee we wouldn’t put so much sugar in it,” says Melaine Brown a grade twelve student of Fredericton High School. 

Anthony Leblanc feels differently, “It’s not a ban, students just can’t buy coffee at the caf,” he says.

 Erin Winott, Dakkota Aubie and Cassandra Parsons: all students of FHS, do not drink coffee for a multitude of a reasons “it tastes bad, I don’t want yellow teeth, it’s bad for you.” the list goes on and on. 

As most students are they drink coffee in the morning, any any other time of day. “Bearing the freezing conditions of a New Brunswick winter and having to trudged through the snow and be wet and cold half the day as well as being late from the amount of kids that have to go get coffee somewhere else as well,” says Melaine about having to find other means of coffee distribution.

Anthony on the other hand, “I never bought at the school. I always buy at Tims.”

“The Caf is losing a lot of money,” says Melaine. It seems that the cafeteria is losing money to places that sell coffee. And because places students go to get coffee they can get other things as well. Breakfast foods, and junk food, and where some students have their own car and have to get gas, even those gas stations sell coffee to the students. To get the coffee before school students will need to get up earlier or be late for school where it is not accessible at FHS. When asked if the ban will last in the High Schools, “It shouldn’t. I’m unsure if it will stick but students will be a lot more tired,” said Melaine. Anthony believe it will last in the high schools; “Because if the district wants it they’ll get it.”

“I just thought it was FHS, didn’t know anything till my daily coffee magically wasn’t there,” says Melaine about the coffee ban. “ District 18 wide at least,” Anthony says. This ban is actually provincial wide.

While coffee is being banned, for being “bad” for you, there are actually good things that come with coffee. “Coffee has no carbohydrates, protein or fat, but it does contain many antioxidants-as many as in green tea-which may protect from certain diseases. It has only two to three calories per cup- without milk or sugar-and contains fibre, magnesium and certain B vitamins.” According to the Canadian Living website (http://www.canadianliving.com/health/nutrition/the_health_benefits_of_coffee.php).

“For coffee to provide health benefits, do not exceed four cups per day,” says Canadian Living.

“Coffee helps with increasing levels of energy and alertness,” says Anthony.

Melaine says it helps with her cramps “If you don’t have [menstruation cramp] pills; coffee you can get at any break.”  

“Last year, researchers found that coffee drinkers were 50% less likely to get liver cancer than nondrinkers. A few studies have found ties to lower rates of colon, breast, and rectal cancers. Several studies have shown that caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee have different health effects,” states The Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide

A cup of coffee can temporarily kick up your blood pressure. But regular intake of caffeine may not increase the risk of high blood pressure over time. Its is possible that people develop some sort of tolerance to the intensity after a while. And going right along with the cancer stats it is about the same with diabetes. People who drink coffee are less likey to develop diabetes.

The chart below provides some examples and if it works with Caffeinated or Decaffeinated coffee.

Caf. vs. decaf.   Caffeinated Decaf Increases blood lipids that raise risk of heart disease   X Protects against diabetes X X† Decreases C-peptide levels* X X Low-birthweight babies, preterm delivery X   *A substance in the blood that is an indicator of insulin resistance and risk for diabetes † Less than caffeinated

(http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0406c.shtml)

With all of these benefits why are the school boards banning coffee?

To go with benefits we all know there are negatives, and that’s what the school boards tend to look at. The negative side of things.

 

Ashley M. is a daily coffee drinker.

Making love last

 Long-lasting Love: Can it survive beyond High School?

By Shannon M

 Post-high school relationships aren’t always the easiest things to keep. Especially if a couple goes their own ways for university or college education. Even though this does happen a lot, there are still many couples that stay strong together through it all. People such as my parents, Scott and Louisianne MacDonald. 

“Even though I was in college in Bathurst and Scott was studying at UNB in Fredericton, we still made it work somehow,” said Louisianne. “We’d call eachother on the weekends to talk for as long as we could, and send letters to eachother during the week. It was harder back then, but we managed,”. Keeping a relationship strong after high school is definitely not an easy task as you could probably guess. Being far away from your significant other can by a very difficult situation to face.

 

My Parents, Scott and Lousianne MacDonald – at their wedding

Photo taken by Earnest Caissie

 

When asked whether or not they ever were faced with challenges and fights due to being so far apart; Louisianne continued on to say; “Yes. It was always a challenge not being able to see eachother for such a long time, but the love stayed strong and we waited it through until the day we moved in together after four long years.” Scott had a different answer. “I actually found it good at times to be separated because it would make the heart grow fonder,” he said. “It always made seeing eachother even more special,”.

Couples make their relationship work by keeping closely in touch; which is certainly not a hard thing to do these days with all of our technologies. Nowadays we have Skype; a program you can use anywhere in the world for free that lets you talk and have video calls with your contacts. Many couples use this app to keep in touch. Also we have the classic phone call! There’s always a way to talk to your partner in our day in time and people may take it for granted.

Back in the days of our grandparents; all they could do to keep in touch was to either send mail; which took many days-, travel by foot or horse or even car if you had a wealthy well-off family, or just simply wait until the next time you’d get to see eachother. Now when you look at how easy it is to manage with all gadgets we have, we must feel thankful for it. It’s tremendously handy when we need it.

Fredericton High School students Holly Pugh and her boyfriend; Tommy Miller have been having their own worries about the up-coming year. Holly will be attending UNB and Tommy will be in college in Miramichi. “Sometimes it makes me upset with the thought of him losing interest in me..” said Pugh. “But he continues to reassure me that what we have will stay strong, so I’m optimistic,”. She then went on to say that she’s looking forward to her university years and is ready to take on each battle head-on. This kind of attitude is what keeps the fire burning.

Tommy Miller, Holly Pugh. Photo taken By Shannon MacDonald.3

Once you make through the first year of college/university, it’s easy to tell how well your relationship will last. If it’s still strong and unbreakable; you should do well in the future if it continues the same way. If it’s rough and hard to deal with; you may need to spend time on ironing out the problems to make things runs more smoothly.

Through thick and thin more and more couples are beating the odds and keeping their love and dedication powerful. Many of these people even last until they get married and live happily ever after with a wonderful family. Though this is what most couples dream of, a lot end up facing the reality of life. Sometimes things just don’t last forever.

It’s never good to expect things to work out perfectly, so we need to realize that it’s good to see things with an open mind and expect the unexpected; whether it’s good or bad. To have a smart mind-set is important with the success of the relationship. Stay strong and carry on!

If things don’t work out it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. You can stay friends and find the person who was meant for you. The typical couple will usually move on in this way if things just don’t seem to work out for them in the long run. Staying positive is the way to live by, and don’t get caught up on certain fixable things.

Love is very important to each person, and to be able to have a person to share it with is something very special. It helps with loneliness and makes a happier person. But people must be cautious of their choices and make sure they choose the right person to be with for a long period of time, though there’s nothing wrong at all with exploring your possibilities by just casually dating. It will help you narrow down your interests to the perfect person.

In the end; the only thing that matters is that people do their best to stay confident in theirs relationships, and not to give up. Even though it may seem too hard to stay together and have full trust when you’re hours away from eachother, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it work. Optimism is key. If the couple love eachother then they’ll go through anything to keep it that way. Scott and Louisianne MacDonald are perfect examples of lovers determination after 25 years of marriage. There’s nothing to be scared of and it’s something to embrace and enjoy along the road of life. It’s all worth it in the end; win or lose!

 

 

 

 

Rwanda Set My Heart on Fire

Rwanda Set My Heart on Fire

How mild air pollution awoke the advocate within me

 
By Kate H.

Rwanda, often called ‘The Land of a Thousand Hills’ is the destination for the 2011-2012 World Vision Youth Ambassadors| Henry Vanderspeck

When my flight landed in Rwanda it was the dead of night and the air smelled like burning rubber.                                            
 When my concern over the safety of our plane had subsided, a different thought occurred to me.  I thought about all the people who had told me that Africa would get into your blood, under your skin.  How the passion of this vast continent would hold your heart forever.  Well maybe that’s what a country filled with passion smells like.  Like it’s people are burning up inside.

The chance to travel to Rwanda came to me not so much by chance.  Month’s prior to this, after hearing about it through a presentation from a local World Vision Representative, I had applied to World Vision’s Youth Ambassadorship Program.  This program is one that is available to all Canadian youth ages 16 to 19.  World Vision Canada selects six youth from across the country to immerse them in their programs and give them the experience of a lifetime.  The chosen Youth Ambassadors spend one week in Toronto at the WV Head Office, meeting with their staff, learning about their programs and getting to know each other.  They then spend two weeks in a country where World Vision Canada has Area Development Programs, or A.D.P.’s.  They meet with the people of this country, learning about their culture and the impact that World Vision has had on their lives.  They also attend an International Youth Forum, hosted by World Vision, where they meet with youth from across Africa.

 Upon their return the Youth Ambassadors spend the year doing presentations, interviews and other forms of media outreach.  They talk about their trip, World Vision as an organization and inspire others to act on social justice issues that are close to their hearts. 
Former YA Salina Dharamsi continues to advocate the program in her day-to-day life.

“The YA program has had a tremendously positive impact on my life; the people I met in Africa, and at World Vision HQ continue to inspire me to find new ways to give back to both my local and global communities,” said Salina. “ I am especially grateful for how the program has further ignited my interest in development and advocacy work as well as provided me with opportunities to share my experience abroad with others.”

The goal of the program, according to World Vision Canada, is just that.  To create a new generation of activists, encouraging them in efforts of peace building, development and leadership who will then return home to speak out for change and fight poverty.   The chosen youth have been known to far exceed these goals, attending prestigious events to speak about their experience and reaching out to all levels of government to plead for the eradication of poverty.  Past YA’s have been granted internships with non-profit organizations, and participated in International Youth Conferences, thanks in part to their participation in the program.  The opportunities seem to abound when YA’s are first given a chance to work with the organization and speak out for something they are passionate about. 

Youth Ambassador Laurel Holmes takes the time to play with children on her trip to Rwanda| Henry Vanderspeck

 

“Before going on this trip, I saw the way I was living as acceptable and normal. Coming home, I find myself thinking about things that I would have never even thought about before.” Said former YA Rosemary McKee, “ I find myself being more conscience of what I buy, how I spend my money, my time… This trip has really ignited a fire in me to be an agent of change and to bring the stories, messages, and lessons I learned home.”

Since the beginning of this program six years ago, several YA’s have been chosen from New Brunswick, and the majority of FHS students are eligible to apply.  Sponsorship from CIDA (Canadian international development agency) makes this possible. That CIDA funding is still necessary today in maintaining this program. 

Youth from Tanzania, the DRC, Rwanda and Canada gathered for the International Youth Leadership Forum, held this past summer in Gashora, Rwanda. | Henry Vanderspeck

 World Vision, as the largest non-profit organization in Canada, has reached out to youth in a myriad of ways.  This includes their popular 30 Hour Famine campaign, their campus groups and their recent Let Kids be Kids Campaign, however the YA program continues to be their best tool in encouraging youth to speak out about social justice issues.  Henry Vanderspeck, the Campus Coordinator for World Vision Canada, has had nothing but positive experiences with the program.  

“In my 15-plus years working in the non-profit field, few roles have given me as much joy and pride as World Vision’s Youth Ambassador program,” Said Henry. “In the six years the program has been running, I have been privileged to meet passionate youth leaders from across Canada who are dedicated to making the world a better place. I take great pride each year in seeing six distinct youth come together and over the course of their experience in East Africa bond as a team and ultimately become lifelong friends.”

The concept of teaching and employing Youth Ambassadors is not, however, native to WV Canada.  The program is also a predominate part of outreach in Australia, several parts of Europe and Africa.  When visiting Rwanda, we met with our Rwandese YA counterparts.  They shared with us the different programs that they had been supporting in their own communities.  They were also recently given the opportunity to visit Canada and gave presentations at Canadian schools while traveling from coast to coast.  

Rwandese village children crowd around a camera to have their picture taken| Henry Vanderspeck

The Rwandese YA’s support environmental efforts, such as the construction of community gardens as permanent sources of food, fundraising to build biogas fuel systems for use in their schools, and beginning anti-genocide mentality groups for local youth.  Rwanda itself has undergone “remarkable strides” in development since the genocide only 17 years ago, according to CIDA.   The Government of Rwanda is now stable, and is on track to achieve goals of “Universal Primary Education and gender equality”.  56% of Rwanda’s parliamentarians are now women, making Rwanda a valuable educational destination for Canadian students who are interested in better understanding development work.   
Rwandese YA’s have been a part of this incredible development, rebuilding communities, inspiring hope and encouraging education in their peers.

The Youth Ambassadors are equally relevant in Canada, aiding in community projects, and speaking to their peers about the importance of finding a cause that you are passionate about, and speaking out about it, said current YA Brian Dueck.     

“You can take so much from others when you give of yourself,” said Brian. “Don’t be discouraged if one opportunity doesn’t work out; the YA program is just one of many ways to get involved. Find something you enjoy, and use it to make positive change every day.”

The 2011-2012 World Vision Youth Ambassadors pose for photos at the Akagara Game Park in Rwanda| Henry Vanderspeck

This passion for dealing with people and serving their communities is identified in youth ambassadors through a rigorous application process.  Candidates must first submit an online application, where they answer a few questions about their community involvement and what drives them to make a difference.  A board of World Vision employees reviews those applications, and then a smaller group of applicants are short-listed.  The short-listed candidates are then asked to complete an hour-long phone interview, before the final six youth are accepted into the program.   The trip itself is approximately 2-3 weeks, and occurs over the summer.
“Working with the Youth Ambassadors is a lot of fun and leaves me inspired and challenged to do even more with my skills and time,” said Henry Vanderspeck.  “I look forward to seeing the leadership roles that the Youth Ambassadors hold in the years ahead and how they are using their expanding influence to make a world that is safer and healthier for children.”   

 After hours in Kigali International Airport, I finally boarded the first of many planes that would take me home.  My suitcase was full of clothes irreparably soaked in Rwandese dirt, I hadn’t worn make-up in days, and the exhaustion of being out in the sun for weeks had more than started to sink in.  I was a wreck, in every sense of the word except emotionally.  Emotionally I was recharged.  I was inspired, ready to speak out for the dear friends I had made in that beautiful country, I wanted to bring their stories home.  As I stepped off the microscopic plane that landed at the Fredericton YFC airport, I could faintly smell burning rubber, kindling in a place deep within my heart.  

Kate H.  is a grade 12 student at FHS and a 2011-2012 World Vision Youth Ambassador.

For more information on the Youth Ambassador program, check out

http://worldvisionmedia.ca/connect/

Making a POP out of Pop culture

Fredericton High School Makes a Pop out of Culture

By Kyle M.

Pop culture has made an immense impact around the world, but in Fredericton High School, it shows the most progress.

Looking around Fredericton High School, typically someone would see different cliques and groups of friends. Generally the groups of friends look like they all have one thing in common, pop culture. Different things have come around to influence each and every student in the school, even if it doesn’t show as much on the exterior, the interior shows a lot of influence of popular culture.

Pop artists such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Adele and Katy Perry have all revolutionized music in their own way. They break records everyday and they show everyone that you can come from any background and still succeed. Before the current generation, we had the previous generation that we would call legendary icons. Remember Britney Spears? Yeah, the one who danced around in a school girl outfit? She’s sold over 150 million records and is a Grammy award winning singer/songwriter 13 years later. I’m sure everyone knows of the familiar name Madonna? She’s sold over 200 million records and finished a 320 million dollar tour back in 2009. But, what does this all have to do with popular culture?

Britney Spears helped sell Pepsi in our popular culture

“Teenagers are affected by pop culture in almost every aspect of life whether it is music, media, celebrities fashion and even literature,” says Ms. Marion Hiltz, who is a business and marketing teacher at the school. “These kinds of things have become top priority for teenagers of today’s world.” Popular musicians such as Britney Spears, Madonna, Janet Jackson and even Mariah Carey have all influenced what has been going on today. The innovation of all of these popular musicians has created a new era of fashion, music and visual.         

Amongst the vast majority of popular solo artists, bands have also created a mass influence on the popular culture we have revolved ourselves around. No matter what era they’re from, it’s all gradually built itself on top of each other and will continue to do so until either popular culture fades into something else, or the world ends. Ranging from the Spice Girls all the way to Nirvana, they’re both influences on the teenagers. Back in the 1990’s, Nirvana made a huge impact on teenagers, bringing in the grunge phase that a lot of people went through. Then, Spice Girls introduced the high top shoes. Even today, bands like Coldplay and Metallica leave a lasting impression on students.

“If you think about it, celebrities affect our everyday lives. They are on TV, on the radio, in movies, playing sports, and even in newspapers,” says Ms. Hiltz “There is no way that we can escape them. With all these celebrities around, teenagers are looking up to them as a guide. They get fashion trends, how they act, even sometimes how they talk, all from celebrities.” Reality television has changed the way for popular culture and how it can influence teenagers. Shows like Jersey Shore have worked their way into a lifestyle in teenagers’ lives. A lot of the students will be going around saying phrases like “Yeah Buddy” or “GTL”. These are popular phrases – or in this case, acronyms – are said by television personalities like Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio and Vinny Guadagnino. “I’ve never really associated myself with Jersey Shore,” says Brandon Pugh, a grade twelve student “I don’t hold anything against anyone who watches the show, but it’s not something I would watch.”

Not only have reality shows changed everything, but television shows themselves have worked their way into the teenage way of life. In the 90’s, shows like Beverly Hills 90210 had made a huge phenomenon and brought in the trend of dramatized shows directed to the teenage audience. Shows like the Vampire Diaries, the O.C., and even the spin-off 90210 have made their way into the lives of teenagers in the present times.

All of this is made by the endorsement deals that are done to promote all of these shows, promote albums, tours, etc. It’s all how products are pressured into a teenager’s life. “They endorse everything for clothing to electronics to food. Having celebrities endorse things help the companies to sell their products,” says Ms. Marion Hiltz “Another thing celebrities do is influence on what we wear. If there is something cool or in fashion that the celebrities are wearing then all of the kids will try to go out and get them so they can be “cool”. People wear shirts with names of bands on them or even cute things that they see on television just to stay with the trends of the celebrities.” Marketing the products with celebrities is what is going to get students attached. If you were to take a walk around Fredericton High School, you would be able to see that there are numerous students representing themselves with products that are more than likely advertised by celebrities.

Popular endorsements influence students to buy popular products. Want a pepsi? Well, you’ll have to get your way past Britney Spears and various other celebrity endorsers. Want some perfume? You’re going to have to either give into the celebrity perfumes such as Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton and David Beckham, or you’re going to have to go for the expensive brand name such as Prada or Versache. Every product has a popular brand name stuck to it; even No Name has become a popular brand name. With every brand name, there’s always someone there to endorse it, whether it be celebrity or just an “average” person.

“I don’t find myself buying products because of celebrities,” says Brandon Pugh “I know a lot of people that do, they’re obsessed with a certain artist and/or band that they have to have EVERYTHING that they do and anything that they’re on. But, I don’t find myself to be influenced by what celebrities do.” Students vary with their opinions. Normally, you would see a lot of people with your average $20 headphones by Sony, but then some students fall into the marketing ploy made by Lady Gaga or Dr. Dre and they buy the $100-300 headphones that don’t sound any different than your average headphones. “I would never have dreamed of buying a pair of headphones that cost more than $5.00, yet students are using “Beats” which can cost over $300.00.” says Ms. Hiltz.

Fredericton High School also seems to be interested in the worldwide culture around them. When entering the high school, you’re hit with kind of a culture shock. There’s a lot of European popular culture, most likely due to the up rise of Europop. Dubstep has introduced itself into a lot of student’s lives due to the popularity of Skrillex. Europop has also been sampled in a lot of songs that you would see today by any popular musician. The culture of the European’s is extremely unique and it’s spreading fast. It’s making itself into a more North American pop culture and settling down as a norm to a lot of students.

Possibly due to the high Asian population in Fredericton High School, Asian culture is making an almost epidemic effect on the school. Anime has become a huge hit amongst dozens of students. Anime and various other graphic novels had become a huge hit in the 1990’s and have further crossed over into the 2000’s and now into a new decade. Not only has the anime graphic novels brought themselves over to the North American popular culture, the television shows have made a rather huge impact on society. Hit shows like Pokemon and Sailor Moon made a huge impact on both children and teenager’s lives back in the 1990’s to early 2000’s.

“Popular culture has shaped the world in its own little way. This is still happening today. Popular culture exists in every culture, changing them continuously,” says Ms. M. Hiltz “It also affects the interaction between cultures eventually affecting the culture of the world as a whole.  

North American culture is probably has the strongest influence, but with our multicultural world influences from Europe and Asia can be found. North American culture is probably has the strongest influence, but with our multicultural world influences from Europe and Asia can be found.” Our fashion is also inspired by what the Asian culture has brought over to North America. Now, we see a lot of colourful clothing and more animated outfits. Something we haven’t seen since the 1980’s!

In all the effects that popular culture has had on the world, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. “I think that throughout our lives we are influenced to some degree by Pop Culture,” says Ms. M. Hiltz “We may be influenced more by pop culture when we are younger, but the influence does not disappear completely, it may not be as strong a motivator, but it is still there.” In essence, popular culture is here for the long run. It’s made such a huge impact on the teens in not only Fredericton High, but all around the world. It’s made so much of an impact that there’s no way to cancel it out of our lives without completely altering our lifestyle and what we have in our life.

“Popular culture has existed since the beginning of time,” says Ms. Hiltz “During every time period it has affected the people who live in it, affecting their thoughts, growth, development and actions. Popular culture has shaped the world in its own little way. This is still happening today.” Around the world, popular culture has put its own effect on the world. Someone can’t pinpoint an exact moment as to when popular culture started on a worldwide phenomenon, but anyone can tell you that it’s changed the world, and it’s changed it for good. If someone wanted to be specific, they could say that popular culture was created when humanity was born. Whatever a vast majority of people enjoy, then that’s what you would call popular culture. 

All interests are varied in students in Fredericton High. Popular culture has hit students in very different ways; anyone could tell by the unique choice of clothing, music, and interests that all of the students have. It’s very hard to match two people together to say they have exactly the same tastes because everyone may have their individuality, but they also have the impact that popular culture has put on them. No one person is the same, and people might put  that on being unique and having individuality, but popular culture has to tie into that a lot because we all have our different ways of perceiving popular culture and how to take it in. There are people who ignore it, there’s people who embrace it and people who just take it however it goes. “Popular culture exists in every culture, changing them continuously,” says Ms. Hiltz “It also affects the interaction between cultures eventually affecting the culture of the world as a whole. “

There’s never going to be an end to popular culture. We can try and try again to get rid of it and it won’t happen. It’s been in our lives for far too long to just cancel out whenever we want to. Fredericton High School is impacted by it a lot, as is any high school in the world. Fredericton High takes a lot of popular culture and incorporates it with events around the school to keep people interested, because they know that popular culture is what keeps people attracted and intact. No matter how hard someone tries, there’s no one that someone can make an overall statement that they are going to avoid popular culture. There are ways to ignore it, but there is no way to say that you can completely avoid it, because even without realizing it, popular culture can make itself into your life no matter what you do. It’s become such a big aspect of everyone’s lives that it’s inevitable.

Kyle M. is a sixteen year old student at Fredericton High School who is extremely influenced by popular culture and what goes on in the media.

7

We can no longer count on school computers

School Computers: Time For a Revolution.

By Tyler A. 

Ever since computers were made for the general public in the early 1990’s, schools and school districts across North America have worked tirelessly to integrate these technologies into their systems.  This gave students a unique learning experience considering not many households could afford a personal computer. 

Schools across Canada and the United states jumped on the idea, quickly purchasing hundreds of computers, costing thousands of dollars. It should have been obvious that this approach could not work forever, and we’re now at the point where only the richest schools can keep their information systems up to date and running properly.  

We soon found that we were fighting a losing battle to keep our schools technology from becoming obsolete, and eventually the funding ran out, and many schools, including Fredericton High, now find themselves with computers that were produced as far back as the early 2000’s. This means that many of the newest features in the field of technology either don’t work, or run extremely slowly on our school computers. It won’t be long before our circa 2005 Dell towers are considered obsolete, and when this happens, the schools will have to make a big decision, continue in the wasteful and expensive cycle they’ve been in since the late 20^th century, or evolve to a new way of technology integrated learning, one that’s literally in the palm of the students hand.      

 

 

However, the technology industry is a fast moving one. Some computers are out-dated by the time they even hit the shelves. The processing power of computers is increasing exponentially, and has been since the late 1980’s. This makes it extremely difficult for consumers, let alone schools, to keep up with the rapidly evolving industry. In the wake of a global economic recession, schools are already facing some of the lowest budgets they’ve ever seen. Our school system here in New Brunswick is already in the process of eliminating and merging certain districts, it is doubtful they’ll be able to conjure up the tens of thousands of dollars that will be required to bring adequate computers into the schools.         

This means that it is time to drop the broken and inefficient computer lab system, in favor of letting students use their own devices, which are in many ways vastly superior systems to the ones we find ourselves using in school. 

“It’s just a waste of time.”, says Evan Grey, a PCMT student at Fredericton High School, “Once we’re in the computer labs we spend half the time waiting for the computers to log us in, and waiting for the internet to load.” 

According to wikipedia.org, 90% of the developed world has a cell phone. Most of which are enabled with camera, internet browsing, video, and word-processing functions. Powerful and state of the art technologies are entering the classrooms every day. In students pockets. It seems like the school system is going about this issue the wrong way, instead of punishing students for using their cell phones in the classroom environment, they should be encouraged. The processing power and data storage capabilities of these small devices dubbed “smart phones” are being totally overlooked by the public school system. Smartphones and tablets can have in excess of 64GB of hard drive storage, if allowed to use them in the classroom, they could store entire text books on these devices. Imagine students not having to carry around pounds of texts books to every class and instead being able to use their own devices instead, it would be much more efficient and save money and paper.          

The outdated computers in the school act as a double edged sword: not only are they a waste of time for the students who use them, they require hours of maintenance, software and firmware updates, new programs, broken hardware, all need to be dealt with somewhere in FHS every day. This requires money and time to deal with, both of which could be better spent if students didn’t have to use the school provided technology.          

This may be the best time to make the transition from school computer labs to using the students own technology, with the emergence of cloud data. Cloud data allows a huge number of computers to access internet hosted files, which would eliminate the need for massive servers and domains, and all the repair and maintenance that they require. This would allow students to save their work in the schools “cloud” without it needed to take up storage space on their own device. They could then access that file the next time they’re in school, or allow it to be shared with other students, which would be useful for group projects, research, and so on.          

The most common computer in Fredericton High is the Dell Optiplex gx240, which comes equipped with a Pentium 4 dual core processor which runs at 1.8 Ghz/s, 512 Mb of RAM and a 40gb hard drive. The iPhone 4, the most popular and best selling cell phone ever produced, uses the A4 1 Ghz/s processor, contains 1GB of RAM and up to 64GB of flash memory storage. As we can see, the iPhone 4 even in pure comparison of computing power is almost entirely superior to the Dell. It has a slightly less powerful processor, but taking into consideration that is does not need to run a huge operation system such as the Windows XP SP3 that all of our Dells run, there is much more processing power at hand with the iPhone. The iPhone actually has more Random Access Memory (RAM) than the dell, which makes for faster application load time and smoothness, as well as quicker access to saved files and websites. As we can see, the ultra-thin, super light iPhone 4 smartphone is vastly superior to the confusing, 35 pound dell optiplex. The iPhone 4 is also cheaper in pure numbers, but if you add in the undisclosed amount of money we’re paying for software and technicians, it almost seems crazy that the in school computer system has survived this long.  

“All the computers are so old and slow”, says Erika LeClair, a grade FHS student “we’d be able to get so much more work done if we could use our phones and laptops”.

This does seem to be the prevailing opinion of almost all of the students in Fredericton High. Out of the fifteen students I polled, not a single one of them thought that classes spent in a computer lab were productive.          

Fredericton High School is in a position to pioneer a new form of education. Students are being forced to work with outdated technology every day. It is time to eliminate the computer lab system, and move into the future. Smartphones, tablets, WiFi, cloud storage, these will be the learning tools of the future.

When Sexual Assault hits Close to Home: A Candid Story

Not Just on the Screen

By J. 

With a scream of terror in the dark crisp air, the shadowy figure is moving along the forest edge or into their window. 

You may see it- sexual abuse- used in horror films; The Hills have eyes, and even on your favorite television shows such as Law and order SUV and Criminal Minds.  It is not that theses sources of entertainment glorify sexual abuse or sexual assault but they immortalize it. They use to make you believe that it will never happen to someone other then when it is scripted. She screams as the thunder booms and lighting strikes. How wrong that is.  

Recently 51-year-old Douglas Hugh Stewart was arrested in Moncton on March 23. He pled guilty to owning the largest collection of child porn ever found in Canada; it is the largest amount ever dealt within the courts.

He is currently spending his five year sentence in jail. Which many people believe to be to short of time, including Isabelle M. Agnew, a journalist for Times & Transcript, in Moncton.  

“He’s clearly a [danger] to every child he’s around,” she said.

 He had over 6 million pornographic pictures and videos   1.2 million of those were of underage girls, some as young as two. And he had been collecting for roughly 30 years. 

“Those five years are not doing anyone any good unless he [remains] there, especially for having such an enormous collection,” she said.

There were over 2200 reports of sexual assaults in 2010, according to statistics Canada. Which is  it is a 5% increase from 2009.   That amount reported is out of the 30 million citizen of Canada.

Krista Keetch, a grade 12 student at Fredericton High, thought the numbers were far too high.  

“Holy, that is very sad and scary,” she said. “I knew there is some, but you don’t really think about it until you hear about it or [happens] to someone you’re close to, you know [personally].”  

Also you have to keep in mind that those 2200 reports of sexual assault have happened but not all offenders are in jail and not everyone who is assaulted or abused sexually reports it.

With Stewart behind bars people are less afraid but Moncton is only a hop, skip and jump away from Fredericton.  

“I cant believe he was so close to Fredericton,” Keetch said, her mouth open with surprise, “and no one had a clue for 30 years,”  

Also after he is released from jail there are many locations in the world that do not have a sex offender registry, such as Bangkok where there are many sex slaves, with many of them underage.  

So with the amount of reported assaults in Canada, there is a low chance that anyone here has been right? Wrong! 

Just within the halls of Fredericton High School 9% of students have experienced some sort of sexual abuse or assault. So are all those offenders behind bars, probably not. Considering that it is every 10^th Student who has had it happen to them.  

Amount Canadians of effected by sexual abuse/ assault according  to Statistics Canada.

The effects of sexual abuse to a child are outstanding, they can develop post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression. Though most of these only show after puberty it is still in direct link to the event itself. Dr. Relja stated that was extremely common for teenagers to develop these feelings if they had been sexually abused/ assaulted when they were younger. 

Not only is the effects on a child there for  life, but the offenders likeliness of actually spending time behind bars  is miniscule. Mainly because the age to be able to testify in court is 18, and if the offender solely offends with children they wont be able to tell the court what happened.  

One student from Fredericton high school who has been sexually abused agreed to tell her story, but her identity will remain anonymous for now. The student is in grade 12 and she was sexually abused a while ago.  

“I’ve been sexually abused,” a student at Fredericton high school said. “I wish I tell you  who he is, but because I was only eleven at the time of his arrest so I could not testify against him,” she said teary eyed. 

Most offenders are related or very close with their victim/s. Especially when it comes to child sex abusers. This way it is easier to make sure that they do not say thing to anyone.

  The reason as to why I wrote this article is because people need to know that there is a threat out there to their children, to themselves. 

 “I’ve been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, and I am currently taking antidepressants,” She reaches for the tissues as she finishes her statement. “I also suffer from anxiety and panic attacks.”

 Unfortunately for our region there is a lack sex offender registry. Sex offenders are however made to live out side of school areas and must inform their neighbors of their offence, there is no place for you to find out if there are any registered sex offenders in your region. Ontario has a registry but after two million dollars have been spent there are still thousands of names missing.  

Though the movies use the presence of sexual abuse to cast fear in their audience doesn’t make it a large problem in our society and in the lives of thousands of people today, myself being one of them.  I also am the anonymous Fredericton high school student, it happens here to not just on the big screen.

Attention Bookworms: No Electronic Devices in Library

                                                                

Student’s feelings towards the electronic policy

by Danielle L. 

Fredericton High School enforces rules and regulations concerning the electronic policy in the student library. It prohibits any use of cellphones, iPods or other electronic devices at any time when studying.

Library assistant, Anne MacInnes, works at FHS and is the main supervisor among the librarians that work there. She is usually on duty during lunch hour, and can be found at the check-in/check-out desk for assistance.

For MacInnes, the library is her sanctuary. She makes up the rules that apply to the students, “And hopefully the teachers on duty [assure they are being followed],” she said, “We do, all of us [the librarians.]”

“We used to allow electronic devices in the library,” she said, but the sounds of clicking from the cellphones and blaring music from people’s music were distracting, so they changed it. The ultimate reason for the change was because students weren’t respecting one another, “Some students complained and found it distracting,” she said. When the new rules became enforced, “I had to confront a disabled student and tell him he wasn’t allowed to use his electronics, he understood and behaved better than most students, who complain about the rule.”

In the library, there are three clocks: two working clocks downstairs and one upstairs that is not working. Students on the computers downstairs have a time they can check, which is on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. Students upstairs checking their phones for the time will be reprimanded, even though there isn’t a functioning clock near them.

Unlike the FHS facility, UNB’s campus library allows electronic devices freely in hand.

“I think university people are more focused,” Anne said. But Fredericton High School could change, “Maybe. Nothing is ever permanent or set in stone,” the head librarian said.                              

Taylor Simmonds, a grade twelve student at FHS, gives her perspective on these restrictions that she’s been dealing with for the past four years.           

“I think it is reasonable against iPods because most people don’t know how to use the volume level appropriately in a quiet environment. I don’t see how cellphones are a problem if it’s on silent.”

Most teacher’s leave their doors open during nutrition breaks and lunch hour so that students are able to come in and work. Robyn Allaby, an English teacher on the top floor, leaves her door open every lunch hour so that students can work with their iPods plugged in and eat. In the library, there are the two librarians on duty and at least one teacher who are constantly roaming; they ensure that all control is in line. During lunch hour, Taylor feels she’s more inclined to go to a teacher’s room rather than the library to study.           

“I don’t have to feel like I have to be stealthy,” if she were to bring out her cell phone. Simmonds mentioned how sometimes she takes her phone out to check the time. In the library, her phone would be taken away for doing so; therefore, she has to be cautious. In a teacher’s classroom, she can have it freely on her desk without worrying about being punished for it. Having an open environment, she said, makes her feel more at home and comfortable when studying.

Michael Leger, a grade nine student at FHS, says he wishes the rules would change.

“I know that for some people music soothes their brain. It is not a distraction, but in fact the opposite.”

Michael thinks that students should be allowed to listen to iPods. He thinks that all the librarians would have to say is: Don’t have your music blaring our of your ears, “It’s as simple as that,” he said, “The librarians would have that authority.”

For Michael, music helps him work. His English teacher, Debbie McIntyre, usually allows the first student in the classroom on time the privilege of having their iPod out if it’s a “work period.” Michael has had this privilege a few times, and says he wishes he could have it every day, and then he’d be more efficient with his work.

In previous years, it was forced to not allow cellular devices and iPods in class whatsoever, and the teachers would get in trouble for allowing them out. This year, the rule was implemented that teachers now have control over electronic use in class. Even so, the principal, Shane Thomas, has come in to Marie-Josee Paulin’s class and taken away cellular devices without her acknowledgment; though, she was completely OK with the cellphones being out.

Recently there was a student in the library, who, just after organizing her books out on the table, looked at her phone for a mere two seconds. A teacher witnessed this and threw her out immediately without a warning, not giving her time to justify her actions or simply put her phone away.

There is nothing on the Fredericton High School website (frederictonhigh.nbed.ca) that defines the latter rules mentioned on electronic devices. A post on September 7, 2011, explains important things to know about FHS Library use. There is a nine page Policy from the Department of Education that thoroughly explains “The Information and Communication Technologies Use;” however, nothing is mentioned on cellular or music devices in the high school library.

 Danielle L is a student who follows the rules no matter how inefficient they can be for her.

 

 

 

 

 

Can High Schools Motivate their Students?

by Rachel F.

 

Motivation is in everyone, without it nothing would ever get done. Some individuals however will strive for higher goals then the rest of society and will push themselves to complete work to an absolute best. Motivation is what drives these individuals. If you were to walk into a class of high school students and look at the work they are doing it is clear that some kids within the school system lack the motivation to complete academic work.

To graduate from Fredericton high school all students need to meet the same requirements, meeting these requirements to graduate is the goal of most students. For some students just passing the class is not enough. “ I want to reach a high academic average, so that I have options as to what university I can go to, and hopefully receive scholarships,” said Ashley Corbett a grade twelve student at Fredericton High School. This is a common goal among high school students, achieve good grades so that you can go to a good university and eventually get a good job. 

Every person at some point in their life will set themselves goals. Setting goals however is driven by motivation, if a person is not motivated to accomplish a task they will not set themselves goals. Within the grade ten-curriculum goal setting is taught in the mandatory health class. This is potentially a good thing, however it only applies to the students who are motivated enough to use the goal setting techniques. A teacher can explain goals and teach goal setting techniques as much as they want, this however will only be beneficial to some of the students. How does a teacher make certain that they will have motivated students? Can you teach high school students a personality trait such as motivation? These are questions that puzzle educators.

According to http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/motivation.html Educational psychology has identified two different classifications of motivation. Which are intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation comes from the person’s own interests. If someone receives enjoyment from a task they will be motivated to continue with the activity. Intrinsic motivation explains why some students will only be motivated to do work in the classes that they have an interest in.“ I am not motivated in school because I am not interested in what we are doing,” said Phoebe Marmura Brown a grade twelve high school student at Fredericton high school.

 Extrinsic motivation is when a person is motivated to work hard for a specific outcome. A student who does not enjoy their classes but still completes the work, because they want a high academic average is an example of extrinsic motivation. “ I don’t like all of my classes but I still stay motivated to do the work because I want to go to university,” said Ashley Corbett.

 The teacher in the classroom can influence motivation. “ I don’t think that a teacher should be responsible to motivate their students, but should want to,” said Phoebe Marmura Brown. If intrinsic motivation is based on the person’s interest, then a lively lesson plan could catch student’s attention. “I don’t think that teachers should feel the need to entertain their class,” said Ashley Corbett. Mary Radford a guidance counselor at Fredericton high school said that teachers should be excited and interested in what they are teaching, so that students will then be more engaged in what they are learning.

A teacher who is passionate about what they are teaching will generally have students who will want to learn from them. A teaching style that engages the students and uses multiple techniques will result in a wider range of students that are interested in the class. If a teacher uses multiple was of assessments a wider range of students will succeed. A teacher could also give the students choice in what they are doing so that the class becomes more invested in the class.

Interest is easier to implement on someone when the topic has an effect on the person.  To have students motivated they should also be interested in the work, which means that they need to feel an attachment to the work they are doing and the school they are in. Getting high school students involved in their school is difficult because many students don’t want to be. “ I think that if my classes where ones that I was interested in then I would work harder, especially in grades nine to eleven,” Said Phoebe Marmura Brown.  Having a broader range of classes that varies in teaching styles would be one way to get high school students invested in what they are learning.

Regardless of teaching methods there is currently students who are motivated and some that are not at all. Is motivation something that children develop from their parents? According to http://giftedkids.about.com/od/ nurturinggiftsandtalents/tp/motivate.htm parents can develop motivation in their children. And in high school students is it parental pressure that motivates students to achieve high marks? “ I don’t believe that my parents have a big influence on how hard I work in school, maybe they don’t push me though because I already work hard in all of my classes,” said Ashley Corbett. Pressuring high school students does not seem to be an effective way to motivate students to achieve high grades.  Intrinsic motivation is something that everyone has because everyone has interests and enjoys certain activities. Extrinsic motivation however is a trait that not everyone has. A person with extrinsic motivation, has the ability to see further than immediate satisfaction and thinks of the overall outcome. This a trait that extremely motivated people have, they will set goals for themselves and accomplish them no matter how much they dislike the work to ensure a specific result. 

Students who are not motivated in school may just not have extrinsic motivation. “I am not too concerned with my school work because school work does not have an effect on what I want to do in my life,” said Phoebe Marmura Brown. Many students say that they are not interested in schoolwork may feel differently if they had a wider range of classes to chose from or were taught in multiple ways.

The school system today does not help to encourage the students who do not have the motivation to work hard in school. Students who accomplish high averages and reach their goals receive rewards and recognition from the school. Their recognition is well deserved, however there is not as much done to help struggling students. Just getting them through grad twelve may not be enough. A teacher or principal cannot force a student to come to school but they can give them help to develop extrinsic motivation and goal setting techniques.

Motivation is something that does and will continue to effect students past high school. It is a valuable characteristic to be able to push yourself to work hard and accomplish goals. Some students are more motivated than other, which does not mean that they will be more successful; especially once students are out of the school system.  Although beneficial, motivation is not necessary for everyone. 

Rachel F. is a Grade 12 student of Fredericton High School.

 

The Internal Toxins of Teen Depression

Depression among high school students can bring deep, deep lows.

 

 

Our Reporter shows how depression can be costly

By K.

Depression is a serious mental disorder that affects many people of all ages.
Often, suffering teenagers are pushed aside and classified as “moody” due to hormonal changes.
Doctors once thought that teenagers couldn’t suffer from depression; this is dangerous as the depression will feed into their adult years and become more extreme.
Depression is a real illness, and over looking it because of a person’s age can be dangerous.  

Adolescence is the time period between childhood and adulthood. So, naturally the adolescent brain differs from an adult brain. However, scientists only recently discovered that the brain reaches full maturity until the average age of 25, according to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164708. Previously scientists believed that the brain was fully developed by the teenage years. The study on the depressed teen brain lags behind studies on adult depression, because the brains are different.

Significant changes in a young teenagers’ life can cause depression to boil. Such as a move, parents divorce, or the death of a loved one. All three of these events have happened to a specific girl (referred to as K) who suffered Dysthymia Depression. Dys coming from the Greek word “ill” and thymia coming from “mind” or “emotions”. A chronic form of depression.

In the summer of 2007, the girl’s family up-rooted themselves and moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick. It was a long distance from the small town of Lantz,Nova Scotia, and she didn’t have a single friend in this foreign land. She adjusted herself to always having a friend near by, to none. She was a shy girl with low self-esteem already eating her away at age 13, so she had great difficulty in making new friends. Her old friends she had met in the early years of elementary school.

In May, 2010, she suffered the loss of a family member. Not a person, but her be-loved pet. It was like losing a dear friend. K was nearly 16, and she had gained the companionship of her cat when she was only a year and a half. Even though the cat was an animal, she still felt like family. The cat, Nyla, had always slept in K’s bed, and was always there to give her comfort on those sad days. Nyla had a seizure, and when taken to the vet they found a fairly large amount of bone infected by cancer. She was put down that day, and our girl was heart-broken.

Some teenagers can develop a habit of self inflicting pain, such as burning, cutting, hitting themselves; plucking out hair (in the eyebrows, scalp, eyelashes); or, in some cases, could even drink cold liquids or shaved ice to cause pain in the throat. In K’s case, she started off with poking herself with scissors to make a paper-cut sized cuts on her legs. Eventually this turned into purposely cutting with her razor when shaving; and then to tearing it apart to get at the individual blades, and cutting her calves.

K easily hid the evidence of her cuts and scars. But, as her depression worsened, she started making small cuts on her wrists. “It may have been something I did for attention, or so I could see it myself and be reminded of how much of a freak I was. I don’t know.” K recalls a girl in her tenth grade English class asking about the tiny red marks on her wrists, but K brushed it off and pretended like it was nothing. “I was embarrassed,” she says.

At the end of her grade ten year, her parents divorced. They called her down from her room, claiming there was to be a “family meeting.” It wasn’t diner time yet, and the family rarely got together out of the blue for nothing. She was scared. She went down and took a seat at the dining room table. Her mother held her hand, tears running down her face. K doesn’t remember how her parents unveiled it; just that she started crying hysterically. She had never cried in front of her brother or parents before. “What the hell is going on?” she recalls her brother saying. It was a terrible night.

“I was so angry at my parents.” K says. It was the night before her brother’s graduation. “This is the last time we will ever be a family.” She thought, as she waited for her brother to gather his diploma.

Depression can affect any gender, social background, race, income level, school or other achievements, according to http://www.teendepression.org/stats/teenage-depression-statistics/. Girls are more likely to report their depression then boys. This is most likely due to social expectations; where boys are encouraged to hide their feels and girls tend to express their feelings among close friends. However, dependence on social relations can affect a girl stronger then a boy. Depression can affect either gender, but in different ways.  

According to http://www.teendepression.org/stats/teenage-depression-statistics/, 20-50% of teenagers with depression have family members who have had depression or other mental illnesses. K explains that her grandmother, on her mother’s side, had a brother who committed suicide. Also, her mother had a case of depression as well. K is unsure that her facts are correct, but she thinks her great-uncle had jumped off the Princess Margaret bridge, and that her mother had attempted suicide in another way. She was too afraid to ask for the correct information. These are just things she had picked up in conversation.

As depression continues without treatment, it grows and can eat away at a person, and their loved ones. Susan Shears, the mother of a depressed daughter, says that life before her daughter’s treatment was “Challenging. It was difficult to admit, although all the signs were there. Ignorance was easier than acceptance and stereo-typing the teen as a teenager was easier than asking the tough questions.”

She pauses for a moment, gathering the right words, “Assuming that all teenagers make their way towards adulthood with many bumps and bruises was an easy cover up. Although all those factors were present, I was still in denial. My child was different than another child. I blamed the outside influences for her withdrawal from life and never focused the blame on her. After all, she’s my baby. She’s me. I remember the hardships of being a teenager and the strength I accrued from all those bumps and bruises. I knew some day she would make it through. She just needed time.”

Often times people who feel depressed gain a feeling of isolation or feel that they are alone. As Susan says, “she just needed time.” Leaving K to deal with things on her own caused her to feel as though no one saw the physical injuries or the emotionless state she was often in near the climax of her depression. K was left alone to face the world, and as her downward spiral went deeper and deeper, she obtained an “I don’t care” attitude. She acted reckless, forgot about the importance of school and paid no attention to her friends. She didn’t care about life; she couldn’t see a future for herself. “I was going to die anyway, so who cared about life?” K thought about her past state of mind.

Things became worse; at least internally for K. Everything on the outside stayed the same. Until August 2^nd, 2010, a Tuesday afternoon, K attempted suicide. She tried to over dose on a bottle of prescription pills of her father’s and various pain killers. Her father found her around 1:00pm passed out in her bed, and rushed her to the hospital where she lived for a week. Her family had finally noticed her illness. She was sent to a physiologist and her doctor prescribed Prozac, an anti-depressant.

For about a year afterward she was under close surveillance from her family. But her parents divorce issues and her brother’s career became more important. Everyone thought she was better. She was trying hard in school and entered a loving relationship with her boyfriend. She was happy on the outside, and the inside storm was stuffed under the bed.

K was still in a rut through the first few months of her relationship with her boyfriend, Derrick.  “It’s hard knowing that the person you really want to make happy is past the point of being upset,” he says with a hint of pain, “ and every time you try to help you make little to no progress and it makes you feel horrible. Like you’re worthless; weak; helpless; and useless. Like nothing you do makes a difference and you feel trapped.”

From Derrick’s heart-filled words, it is obvious that one person’s depression affects everyone within their reach. Depression is toxic. It hurts everybody, but it takes everybody to help one person.  

I was that girl.

The girl who was attacked by depression.

But, now, I am a grade 12 citizen of Fredericton High School.

I live with the haunting of the depression everyday; and over come it everyday. I do not believe everyone becomes 100% recovered from terrible sufferings; a person only becomes stronger. However, I am happily working hard to fulfil my dream of becoming a Registered Nurse, and to make the best out of life. I hope to use my story to help others in their troubles. Life is worth living, and sometimes we all need a little push to help us over a mountain.