dfontaine10's Blog

The tiring SAT’s, awkward interviews, endless applications, creative college essays, and the unknown recommendations are all apart of the agonizing college process.   The normal senior fills these things with honest information about themselves and they do not lie.  Adam Wheeler did not obey these rules.

Adam decided to apply to Harvard with completely false information about himself and the schools he attended.  He managed to make the Harvard admissions board believe that he graduated from Phillips Andover Academy and that he was transferring from M.I.T.  In my opinion this is completely awful but truly remarkable at the same time.  You have to be incredibly gifted at lying and acting to pretend to graduate from a high school and transferring from a very prestigious school.  The fact that he was able to get the fake records, fake transcripts, and fake signatures is pretty amazing.  Obviously what he did is looked down upon, but it is something to admire at the same time.

You may be wondering how Adam got caught in his lies after two years of attending Harvard classes, winning academic prizes and tens of thousands of dollars in grants and scholarships.  Well he got caught when he applied for the Rhodes and Fulbright scholarship.  The fake transcript and plagiarized work from a Harvard professor couldn’t pass this time!  Wheeler was charged of larceny and identity fraud, among other charges.  In the eyes of many people Wheeler stole all of the money that he was granted from the hard working people that give that money out.  The total to this money was 45000 in grants, scholarship, and financial aid money.  This is a ridiculous sum for a person to achieve that did not even deserve it.

You may be wondering the truth about Adam Wheeler, he graduated in 2005 from Caeser Rodny High School, a public school in Delaware, and he attended Bowdon College for two whole years.  In 2007 he was suspended for academic dishonesty.  This is pretty ironic, considering the circumstances he is now in.  Adam’s actions are completely atrocious, he took advantage of good people that were just trying to do their jobs.  He also took a spot that some other honest good-hearted person could have had.  It is awful when someone takes things from others that are deserving of it.  It really drives me crazy when hard working people do not get what they deserve, but the people that do not work hard achieve it.

Clearly this is what Adam did.  He did not achieve something that he worked for his whole life like his fellow Harvard classmates.  Harvard is one of the most prestigious schools in America and it should not be taken advantage of by frauds like Adam Wheeler.

It is a known fact that anyone and everyone can see whatever you post on the web.  Yes, this includes facebook posts and facebook pictures.  Now you are all thinking to yourself, “No one can see what is on my profile, I have all those privacy settings.” Well you are WRONG.  Just because you think that you are safe and only your friends can see your profile does not mean that this is true.  Mario Armstrong proves this fact.

Even though it is a known fact that pictures are not safe on the internet, teenager’s still post pictures of them doing inappropriate things.  Why do they do this?  They want to show their friends how much “fun” they had last weekend.  Or they want to show how cool they are because they were at a party.  In my opinion posting these pictures just to look cool in that one album is not worth it.

There are stories of seniors graduating and going off to college, and during orientation when they are sitting with their proud parents, the school presents a slide show of pictures of all their incoming freshman doing illegal and inappropriate things.  Where did they get these pictures? Facebook.  How did they get them? Downloaded them off of the student’s profiles.  So here is some advice, if you do not want to be like those kids sitting awkwardly next to their parents at college orientation.  Do not post pictures that you do not want people to see on the internet.

Another aspect of life that bad pictures can affect is getting hired for a job.  If you do not think the place that you are applying for doesn’t check up on you.  You’re wrong.  They want to make sure they are hiring well-respected and well-behaved individuals.  They do not want to see pictures of you doing a keg stand in college or shot gunning a beer.   So if you think that you are going to get a job with these types of pictures, think again!

Although facebook is a great way for keeping in touch, I sort of wish it had never been invented.  The main reason is because I waste so much of me time on it.  I can get so distracted on facebook and completely disregard my responsibilities.  I also feel like people take pictures just so they can show them off to other people.  In today’s world there is no such thing as real live photo albums anymore.  I love looking back on pictures from when I was little and looking at pictures of my parents in our family albums.  But now all I do is post my pictures on facebook or on my computer, all of this just makes me wonder why my kids are going to use when they are older… Time will only tell.

Death, murder, fraud, scam, torture, heartbreak, and robbery are only a few of the many horrible stories that the news is filled with today. When I turn on the news or open up a newspaper I brace myself, I know I will soon be filled with sadness because the top stories are rarely ever positive. This reflects badly on us as Americans. Why are we so drawn to the negative in the world instead of the positive? The positive stories send out a great message, look at this story for example.
As you can see Erik Martins dying wish was to be a super hero and because his kidney cancer is so awful he was able to receive this wish. I personally would rather hear about twenty stories like this than hear about one story that is filled with sadness and depression. What is the point of telling a story that is not going to make people feel good? Obviously the news needs to cover important devastating stories like Haiti or 911, but smaller stories should be filled with happiness and hope.
Some people like my mother take on the world’s problems. She feels pain for the people in the awful stories that the news loves to talk about. My mom lets these stories affect her and she even brings them up at the dinner table. When I come home to eat dinner I would rather talk about my families day then talk about a complete strangers problem. Producers of the news must know that their stories are affecting the people that watch them. Why can’t they show some happiness once in awhile? It would at least ease my mother’s conscience.
Everyone is aware of the term “Sex Sells”. Well it is true… shows like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives prove this statement. People are interested in scandal; they do not want to tune in to watch someone doing good things like helping the poor or working at a soup kitchen. People want to watch shows about secrets and immoral behavior. It is sad to say that this is what the majority of Americans like to watch and it is even more sad to admit that I tune in to watch these types of shows also.
I love watching shows about the good that people can do but for some reason shows like The Hills and Sex and The City will always interest me. Whenever my dad sees me watching one of these shows he says, “ Why are you watching this garbage? It is nothing like real life.” He is right but his wise words of wisdom won’t get me to stop watching it. Even though I am interested in silly shows, stories like Erik’s will always interest me and I hope the news will start to broadcast more uplifting stories! Besides who doesn’t want to see a dying boy smile for a few hours?

Death, murder, fraud, scam, torture, heartbreak, and robbery are only a few of the many horrible stories that the news is filled with today.  When I turn on the news or open up a newspaper I brace myself, I know I will soon be filled with sadness because the top stories are rarely ever positive.  This reflects badly on us as Americans.  Why are we so drawn to the negative in the world instead of the positive? The positive stories send out a great message, look at this story for example.

As you can see Erik Martins dying wish was to be a super hero and because his kidney cancer is so awful he was able to receive this wish.  I personally would rather hear about twenty stories like this than hear about one story that is filled with sadness and depression.  What is the point of telling a story that is not going to make people feel good? Obviously the news needs to cover important devastating stories like Haiti or 911, but smaller stories should be filled with happiness and hope.

Some people like my mother take on the world’s problems.  She feels pain for the people in the awful stories that the news loves to talk about.  My mom lets these stories affect her and she even brings them up at the dinner table.  When I come home to eat dinner I would rather talk about my families day then talk about a complete strangers problem.  Producers of the news must know that their stories are affecting the people that watch them.  Why can’t they show some happiness once in awhile?  It would at least ease my mother’s conscience.

Everyone is aware of the term “Sex Sells”.  Well it is true… shows like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives prove this statement.  People are interested in scandal; they do not want to tune in to watch someone doing good things like helping the poor or working at a soup kitchen.  People want to watch shows about secrets and immoral behavior.  It is sad to say that this is what the majority of Americans like to watch and it is even more sad to admit that I tune in to watch these types of shows also.

I love watching shows about the good that people can do but for some reason shows like The Hills and Sex and The City will always interest me.  Whenever my dad sees me watching one of these shows he says, “ Why are you watching this garbage? It is nothing like real life.” He is right but his wise words of wisdom won’t get me to stop watching it.  Even though I am interested in silly shows, stories like Erik’s will always interest me and I hope the news will start to broadcast more uplifting stories!  Besides who doesn’t want to see a dying boy smile for a few hours?

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/tag/make-a-wish-foundation/

Mistakes, everyone makes them… but does everyone attempt to fix them?  I certainly do and I think the beloved Tiger Woods is trying his best to fix his mistakes as well.  There is a question being asked by everyone though, Is Tiger fixing his mistakes in the right manner?  The answer in my opinion is no.  My reasoning is because of his latest Nike commercial.

Obviously the acts Mr. Woods has committed were horrible and no one in their right mind could do such an awful thing to someone they love.  But Tiger Woods obviously lost his way and did things he hopefully regrets.  Tiger is a perfect example of what is going on culturally in our world today.  Twenty years ago Tiger would be a wash out, but in the year 2010 we are used to behavior like this.  Tiger is not alone in the infidelity department; people like Ted Kennedy, John Edwards, and Kobe Bryant have made us used to famous people getting away with cheating on their wives.  This proves that celebrities are invincible.

I honestly do not know how his wife is able to forgive him after what he put her through, but good for her for trying to make her marriage work for her children.  After all, isn’t marriage about loving your spouse no matter how ugly things get?  Well Tiger made things just as ugly as Frankenstein!

Tiger Woods is definitely one of the most famous people in the world, golf relies on Tiger, no one really watched it while Tiger was not playing.  Since Tiger is too big to fail he needed to make some sort of sorry statement so his fans would forgive him.  This apparently led to his latest commercial.  The fact that he uses the voice of his dead father in the commercial is completely ridiculous.  Yes, it draws great attention to the audience but it is very freaky.  The expression on Tiger’s face during the commercial shows much remorse.

Good job Tiger, everyone knows you are sorry but you really shouldn’t have to bring your deceased father into the matter.  He is not the one that made a mistake, you did.  It also looks sort of weird since his late father is known to have had some cheating on his record too.  Obviously Tiger greatly admired his father, but his dad was not the right person to incorporate in his commercial.

There is no doubt in my mind that it must have been hard for Nike to come up with a commercial to show how regretful Tiger is but Nike definitely should have left Tigers father out of it.  Unfortunately like Tigers cheating rampage this commercial can also be looked at as a mistake as well.  Hopefully Tiger figures out a better way to fix this mistake.

Every individual has something they excel in or a certain thing that they like to do.  Demetria Bell loves basketball, Abigail Gray consumes her time with music, and Joanie Payne is one with the dance floor. As for me, I like to help people.  No matter who you are or what your issue is I will do my best to try to fix it and make you happy.  There are people who make a living off of helping people, Doctor Mehegan, Oprah Winfrey, and the people of the Red Cross all have one goal; help those in need. If this is the goal of the Red Cross than why have they been slacking over the years?

9/11, Katrina, and Haiti are all disastrous events that demanded aid from help groups like the Red Cross.  Did the Red Cross aid as much as they could? When 9/11 occurred the Red Cross raised a lot of money and ended up diverting this money away from victim support, when Katrina hit the Red Cross was blamed for poor coordination of relief efforts.  The Red Cross has even gone through embezzlement.  Now you may wonder, what is the Red Cross doing for Haiti?  Is the Red Cross doing its job?  The answer is yes.

I’m glad that the Red Cross is trying hard to support Haiti, even though they have gone through some rough times. The Red Cross is doing a great job trying to help the people in Haiti who are very much in need. I think it is very important that the Red Cross is getting back on track because people need support groups in order to make it through hard times.  Tragedies like 9/11 and Katrina were in great need of the Red Cross and it is unfortunate that they could not deliver the necessary aid that was tremendously needed by their own American people.

I am glad we are helping another country in a time of need, but it makes me sort of upset that the Red Cross could not come through for its own country.  It is their people that are suffering; you would think that they would do everything in their power to help.  If I was working for the Red Cross and saw the people of my country suffering, I would do anything in my power to try to help them.

I am a person that does not like to see other people in pain. I try to lend out a helping hand whenever I can.  If I am unable to provide a person with aid, I lead them in the right direction for help.  I hope that the Red Cross keeps up with their great support of Haiti and when the next tragedy hits they are prepared and ready to support those in need.

I am a firm believer in the saying “in order to achieve one must believe.”  No one would ever get anywhere in life if they did not believe they could accomplish what they wanted.  Everyone needs to keep their spirits up when things get rough and that’s what belief does.  Even if you find yourself in the worst situation you could think of there is a possibility that your hope will get you through it.  This is exactly what Maxi Falon did when she found herself in a horrible circumstance.

When the earthquake hit Haiti on that fateful day she found herself trapped under pieces of concrete, mortar, and metal.  A fellow student was stuck with her and they both did everything they could to hold onto their lives.  They took turns sleeping in case rescuers came so they could shout that they were alive to them.  Mica (Maxi’s classmate) began to lose faith and even said they were going to die, but Maxi would not let her lose her lose her belief and asked her where her faith had gone.  Maxi truly believed that God had put them in this situation for a reason.  She thought that they were going to be each other’s salvation.  It turns out that Maxi was right.

After six days of much praying and hoping the girls were saved and rushed to hospitals.  This story truly shows that if Maxi had lost her belief and just given up her fate might have ended up a little differently.  Stories like this make me feel fortunate to have so many opportunities and make me realize that in order to accomplish anything I cannot give up. Maxi could have just given up and died, but she let her faith and will to live take over which brought her back to her family away from death.

Maxi had been studying business but after this incident decided to go after her nursing degree, she wants to be able to help people whom are in need.  She wants to be able to give back and help people that have no desire to live.  She wants to instill faith in these people.  Maxi is unable to walk or bath herself right now because of the injuries she underwent from the earthquake.  I know and believe that Maxi will get back on her feet and achieve her goals of nursing, because if she has the will power to avoid death she can accomplish anything.

Disastrous, chaotic, horrific and unfortunate are all words that only begin to describe the situation in Haiti.    Through out all of this mayhem sexism has taken form.  The food distributions have started to become a place of great disorder and violence.  Men of all ages have begun to cause much unneeded danger in order to receive food, they completely ignore the lines and push and shove their way to the food.  The actions of these men have instilled much fear in the food distributors and it has become dangerous for women and children.  Food distributors decided to take matters into their own hands and only allow women to receive rice.  These women must have food coupons that they received the day before in order to get the rice.  These bags of rice will feed their families for two weeks, which is a gift in itself to the people of Haiti.

The men of Haiti are not happy about this change at all.  I understand where there dissatisfaction comes from.  But these men were definitely acting out of line, in the lines.  It is true that the situation in Haiti is extremely difficult and everyone is suffering but I truly do not believe that this gives the men the right to use violence and disorder in order to receive food.  Most of this food is from other countries; people have been working hard on relief efforts for Haiti.  The way these men are acting does not show their gratitude for the food and for everything that other countries and people have done for them.

I can only imagine how horrible it must be for these people dealing with the situation in Haiti but in times of crises I feel people need to act responsible in order for things to get better. This is why the women were chosen to be able to receive the food.  I think this new “women only” rule is very sexist and unfair in many ways.  There are plenty of well-behaved men that are single parents of families that need food.  Many of these single fathers rely on the food distributors to feed their families, now they have nothing because of this new rule.  The relief volunteers are punishing innocent people for something other people have done.  Not all of the men are acting up, obviously something needed to be done to stop the craziness but the relief effort volunteers need to come with a new solution to keep things in order and they need to do it fast!

Have you ever imagined participating in the Olympics?  The amount of practice and time the athletes put into their sport is amazing.  The pressures they experience and the support from their fans is remarkable.  Now imagine being apart of the Olympics, already having enough to worry about, and then you get news that your mother has died.  This is the news Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette received on Sunday 21^st from her father.

I cannot even imagine what kind of an emotional rollercoaster Joannie has gone through since she found out about the death of her mother. The Olympics already bring an emotional and physical toll to the Olympians.  The addition of having to experience a loss as great as a mother must make the Olympics that much harder.  Even though the death of her mother was extremely devastating Joannie still decided to participate in the Olympics.  She knew she would regret dropping out of the Olympics because it was something she had worked so incredibly hard for.  She knew she had to give it her all and take the bull by the horns.  That is exactly what Joannie did.  She performed amazingly and ended up winning the Silver medal.

The one thing that came out of this situation that I greatly admire and love is the fact that she received so much love and support from fans from other countries other than Canada.  Fans sent a ridiculous amount of letters and emails to give her words of encouragement and keep her spirits alive while trying to chase after her dream.  This shows that people can put aside their differences and help support other people in need.  Disasters like Haiti and 911 also proved this fact.  Joannie’s incident touched close to home for me as well as many other people.  Everyone can relate to the thought of loosing his or her parents.  Some people have already experienced this loss and other people fear the day their parents are gone for forever.

The fact that Joannie was able to receive a silver medal in the Olympics while enduring all of her pain and sorrow shows just how strong of a woman she is.  She is a great role model for any young child and I truly admire her.  The fact that so many people from different countries as well as her own supported her shows that as a human race we are capable of putting aside our competitive fire and we can realize what really matters; helping someone when they are in need.

Throughout the history of sports there have been many sports stars that have gotten their dream taken away from them.  Travis Roy and Nodar Kumaritashvili are two people that have experienced this tragedy.  As Tabor students we know the Travis Roy story all to well, he worked so hard to be the best he could be in the sport he loved.  He worked his way to accomplish one of his goals, play for Boston University.  As a freshman he started for Boston University but unfortunately only for eleven seconds.  After only eleven seconds he became crippled because of a crash into the boards.  The only thing that mattered to him in the moment of his injury was the fact that he had made it.

Although Nodar Kumaritashvili’s story is a little different from Travis Roy’s they both experienced the same type of loss.  Nodar worked his hardest to make it to the luge Olympics.  After competing in five world cup races this season and finishing 44^th in the standings he made his dream come true.  He had made it to the Olympics.  There were concerns about the track and how dangerous it was, but the Olympians still went through with their trial runs.  Nodar admitted that he was a little nervous about how fast the track was.  It’s only human to be afraid of going 90 miles per hour on a twisty track.  He ignored his nervousness and got ready for a run that ended his life.

Although Travis Roy did not lose his life like Nodar Kumaritashvili his hockey career was over.  He has not been able to play hockey ever since his first BU game.  Both, Travis Roy and Nodar Kumaritashvili had worked so hard to accomplish their dreams.  In a way they had made their dreams come true, but it got taken away from them within seconds.  Everyone has their own goals and dreams, and we all work hard to accomplish them.  But sometimes just as we can taste our dreams coming true, they get taken away from us and there is nothing we can do about it.  Almost anyone can feel pain for Travis Roy and Nodar Kumaritashvili because we can only imagine what its like to lose something you have worked so hard for.  This just shows that no one should take anything for granted, because you never know when it will be taken away from you.