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{Heart4Teens.com}  *You Want Heroes?*

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Visit our inspirational web site to read all the past articles in our archives and view the tons of resources we have there for teens!

http://www.Heart4Teens.com/Teen_Stories


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You Want Heroes?

By Frosty Troy


"Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host thundered. He blames
society's shortcomings on public education.

Too many people are looking for heroes in all the wrong places. Movies stars
and rock musicians, athletes and models aren't heroes, they're celebrities.

Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the news.

There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, broken homes, child
abuse, and crime in today's America. Public education deals with these problems every day.

You want heroes?

Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death while trying to
shield his students from two Neo-Nazi youth on a bombing and shooting
rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

Sanders gave his life, along with 12 students, but other less heralded
heroes survived the Colorado blood bath.

You want heroes?

Columbine special ed teacher Robin Ortiz braved gunfire, moving from
classroom to classroom, shouting at students and teachers to get out of the
building. His action alone cleared the east side of the high school. No one
will ever know how many lives he saved.

You want heroes?

For Ronnie Holuby, a Fort Gibson, Okla., middle school teacher, it was a
routine school day until gunfire erupted. He opened a door to the school
yard and two students fled past him.

A 13-year old student had shot five other students when Holuby stepped
outside, walking deliberately toward the boy, telling him to hand over the
gun. He kept walking. Finally the boy handed him the gun. Holuby walked the
boy to the side of the building, then sought to help a wounded girl.

You want heroes?

Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, N.C., teacher, was moved by the plight of one of
her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney transplant. So this pretty
white woman told the family of this handsome 14-year old black boy that she
would give him one of her kidneys. And she did. When they subsequently
appeared together hugging on the Today Show, even tough little Katie Couric
was near tears.

You want heroes?

Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not only made it,
she was one of those wondrous teachers who could wring the best out of every
single child. One of her fellow teachers in San Jose, Calif., said "she
could teach a rock to read."

Suddenly she was stricken with Lou Gehrig's Disease, which is always fatal,
usually within five years. She asked to stay on the job-and did. When her
voice was affected she communicated by computer.

Did she go home? She is running two elementary school libraries. When the
disease was diagnosed, she wrote the staff and all the families that she and
one last lesson to teach - that dying is part of living. Her colleagues
named her Teacher of the Year.

You want heroes?

Bob House, a teacher in Gay, Georgia, tried out for Who Wants to be a
Millionaire. After he won the million dollars, a network film crew wanted to
follow up to see how it had impacted his life. New cars? Big new house?
Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching. They
explained that it was what they had always wanted to do with their lives and
that would not change. The community was both stunned and gratified.

You want heroes?

Last year the average public school teacher spent $468 of their own money
for student necessities - workbooks, pencils - supplies students had to have
but could not afford. That's a lot of money from the pockets of the most
poorly paid teachers in the industrial world.  The average teacher works more hours in nine months than the average 40-hour employee does in a year.

You want heroes?

For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the only hug they will get that day because the nation is living through the worst parenting in history. Many have never been taken to church in their lives.

A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her attempt to
rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a stuffed animal on her desk -
one that said "I love you!" He said he'd never been told that at home.

This is a constant in today's society; two million unwanted, unloved, abused
children in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all in.

You want heroes?

Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of personal
interaction, a job so difficult that fellow teachers are awed by the
dedication they witness.

There is a sentence from an unnamed source which says, "We have been so
anxious to give our children what we didn't have that we have neglected to
give them what we did have."

What is it that our kids really need? What do they really want? Math,
science, history and social studies are important, but children need love,
confidence, encouragement, someone to talk to, someone to listen, standards
to live by.

Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of responsible
people. Kids need to be accountable to caring parents who will send well
disciplined children to school.

These human values are essential in a democracy -- anything that threatens
them makes our whole society a little less free, our nation a little less
strong.

These values can be neither created nor preserved without continuous effort
and that effort must come from more than teachers who have students only six
[to seven] hours of the day.

Despite the problems, public school teachers laugh often and much. They have
the respect of intelligent people and the affection of students who care.

Teachers strive to find the best in their students, even where some see
little hope. No other American bestows a finer gift than teaching -- reaching
out to the brilliant and the retarded, the gifted and the average.

Teachers leave the world a little bit better than they found it, knowing if
they have redeemed just one life, they have done God's work.

They are America's unsung heroes!


Frosty Troy

(This article originally in the Christmas 2001 edition of the Oklahoma Observer, Used by Permission)

Frosty Troy is the Editor of The Oklahoma Observer, an independent journal which has won at least 40 local, state, and national journalism awards.

You can contact him at: The Oklahoma Observer, PO Box 53371, Oklahoma City, OK 73152

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Let's Go Surfing Dude!

~ Christian College Mentor
What are you looking for in a college? If you think Christian higher education is the route for you, check out this informative site.
http://www.christiancollegementor.com


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Thought For The Day:

"Render more service than that for which you are paid and you will soon be paid for more than you render. This is the law of increasing returns." --Napoleon Hill


Verse for the Day:

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." --2 Corinthians 9:6


Teen's Thought For The Day:

"The Bible knows nothing of a heirachy of labor. No work is degrading.  If it ought to be done, than it is good work."


Parent's Thought For The Day

"The good news is that grandchildren keep you young. The bad news is that after you spend time with them you feel your age." --Joan Holleman


Coach's Thought For The Day

Habit is most difficult to defeat. If you delete the first letter, it doesn't not change "a bit" Delete another and you still have a "bit" left. Take off still another and the whole of it remains. But if you take off another, it is wholly used up. Goes to prove if you want to get rid of a habit, you must throw it off altogether. --Mandel


Deep Thought For The Day:

"I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top." --English Professor, Ohio University




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Author MICHAEL T. POWERS
www.Heart4Teens.com

Contributing Author to Chicken Soup for the Teen's Soul on Love and Friendship and 21 other inspirational books.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20

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ALL-STAR Ministry

--The Youth Church of Faith Community Church in Janesville, WI

If you are in 6-12th grade and live in the southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois area and would like to check us out, we meet every Sunday night from 6:30-8:00 PM at Faith Community Church which is located at 2931 Lucerne Dr. in Janesville, WI. (About 3 blocks south-east of The Skating Place.)

Currently we have students from Fort Atkinson, Milton, Janesville Craig, Janesville Parker, Marshall, Orfordville, Clinton, Beloit Memorial, Beloit Turner, South Beloit, and Hononegah. E-mail me back if you have any questions about our weekly meetings or would like to come to any of our events that are listed below... We have way too much fun and then, most importantly, talk about issues that are relevant to you as a teenager.


This Week:  Sunday May 15 -- Be a History Maker! (Using your life to make a difference!)


Upcoming Topics!
 
 
Sunday May 22 -- Death Vader (Live so that they won't have to lie at your funeral)
 
Sunday May 29 -- God's Play Dough (How do we know God's will for our lives?)
 
Sunday June 5 --  Annual Summer Kick-off Cook-out!  (Invite your friends!)
 
Sunday June 12 -- Facing our Demons (Dealing with temptation)
 
Sunday June 19 -- Father's Day -- No All-Stars (Stay home and spend time with your Dad!)

Sunday June 26 -- Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (Becoming salt in a rotten world)


Upcoming Events


Saturday May 14:  Annual Fireside Theater Trip! (Juniors and Seniors Only)

June 15-18:  Xtreme Teens Camping Trip in the Nicolet National Forest!

June 27 - July 1, 2005:  Special Touch Summer Getaway at Spencer Lake Christian Center in Waupaca Wisconsin.  If you would like to be a volunteer at this camp-style retreat for people with mental or physical disabilities contact Kristi Powers at 757-1938.  What a wonderful way for you as a teenager to make a difference in other people's lives!

July 6:  Great America Trip!

July 8-16:  Guatemala Missions Trip!

July 22-23:  30-Hour Famine (high school only)

September 16-18:  Annual Fall Retreat!


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Teen Community Groups
6:30 - 8:00 PM Wednesday nights
 
Wednesday night community groups for teens. The groups are limited to no more than ten teens and are split into Jr. High and High School ages. This night is for those teens who want to dig deeper than what we do in All-Stars, but may not be ready to be a part of the Extreme Teens. These cell groups will also be doing special activities with each other as the year goes on to build community.

Join us as we do a Bible Study called "The Discipleship Experiment!"
 
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The Extreme Teens

6:30 - 8:00 PM Wednesday nights  is on Wednesday nights from 6:30 - 8:00 PM

"Extreme Teens" meet Wednesday nights from 6:30 - 8:00 PM (September -May). This group is very extensive with weekly homework, memorization, service projects, etc. Students interested in this group will have to fill out an application, provide references as to why others think they should be involved with this, and sign an agreement as to what is expected of them.


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Reading Books, Changing Lives!


For those of you who love to read or love to give out books as gifts...

You can now order a number of different autographed best-selling inspirational books for the same price you would get them in the store, the shipping to you is paid for, and you are helping change the lives of teenagers and those they come in contact with! 

If you love to read inspirational stories, these books are most likely those you will eventually buy anyway. And how cool would it be to be able to buy books like those in the Chicken Soup series for your friends and family with a personalized autographed message by one of the contributing authors! How's that for a unique gift! Check out this link to find out more!

http://www.HeartTouchers.com/books