Final Project

Students Train to be Part of the Atlanta Marathon in Honor of Slain Classmate

 

In honor of the death of Clarenda McDonald, Spiritually Enlightened is sponsoring a movement to take part in the Atlanta Marathon on Sunday, May 17^th. They plan to run in the Marathon that is 26.2 miles around the city of Atlanta. For each mile this group of ten students from Clark Atlanta completes, they are petitioning the public to donate money to the Clarenda McDonald Memorial Scholarship Fund Endowment.

 

Based on the amount of preparation that has gone into running this race, it is pretty obvious that Clarenda was loved and cared for by her peers. John Wilson, a sophomore in Spiritually Enlightened and a former good friend of Clarenda, has been training for the last six weeks for this one event. He is doing this for no other reason than out of love for Clarenda. Wilson states “I have never worked this hard for something in my life, especially when it comes to exercise. But the tragedy of Clarenda being killed in that senseless accident gave me an impetus to improve my life, and hopefully affect someone else for the better.”

 

Training for the marathon is only one area in which Spiritually Enlightened is putting a high level of effort into. Each member of the team wants nothing but success for the endowment effort. Leslie Lewis, one of Clarenda’s closest friends, says the scholarship must be a success, because it is the least that Clarenda deserves. Lewis says “She was such a model student, model worker, and a model woman. People should donate to her scholarship fund, because the better we do at keeping her legacy alive, the better off the world will be.”

 

The scholarship fund needs the support of the general public throughout the Atlanta area. The goal is for people to donate $15, $25, $50, or $100 for each mile completed by this group of 10 students. Advertisements are on flyers across the city with information about Clarenda and the Marathon. The students of Spiritually Enlightened want to remind everyone that even though this is a challenging task they have taken on, they feel that it is the least they can do for a life that was so tragically and unwarrantedly taken away from them. Clarenda had so much to live for, and now they want to give back at least a portion of the impact she had on their lives.

Midterm: Atlanta Snow- A Comparison

A summary of the events from my viewpoint of the snow day in Atlanta on March 1st, 2009.

Feel free to comment on whether you believe people who live in the South overreact when it comes to minor snowstorms.

Merita McCalister: She is who she is, so what more can you ask?

Describing herself as both an articulate yet reserved person, Merita McCalister displays interesting charisma, work ethic, and a dedication to greatness.

Ms. McCalister, born December 16th, 1988, is a person who has endured an array of changes and some obstacles in her life, which she did overcome. She was born in Tampa, Florida, but as she described, that was only the beginning of her journey. With her father being in the army, Ms. McCalister and her family lived in five different areas as a child growing up. What is interesting is that these places were far and apart from each other. In fact, she has never been in one place more than three years of her life.

The transiency, along with the fact that she is an only child, has contributed to her actions even today. She is self-described as a reserved person. She tends to shy away from people, which is not a good thing according to her own admission. The fact that she is kind of shy does not take away from her propensity to speak her mind though, nor does it hamper her work ethic in any way.

In her spare time, Ms. McCalister pretty much enjoys doing the little things. She likes to read books and sleep, when she is not enthralled in the many activities of school. Of course, with the aspirations she has, Ms. McCalister certainly puts school at the top of her list.
Merita is a Print Journalism major, and naturally, she loves to write and interview people. As a sophomore, she has written stories for the Panther Paw Newsletter, and her goals in life are also very admirable. She ultimately wants to own a magazine production company. She is taking the correct measures to make this happen as well, such as enrolling in management courses this semester. When looking at her plans and the way she carries herself on a daily basis, it can be said that Merita McCalister is headed in the right direction in life.