There’s no precise race, age, or gender that prohibits the emotional and physical harm it causes. I was 14 when my grandmother died from breast cancer, and it tore up my family’s sense of reality.

To see someone who gave you everything taken away too young was heartbreaking. My mom was probably the most heartbroken when my grandmother passed. If my grandmother were more aware of the symptoms and if we would have caught it earlier than we did, things might have been different.

I remember walking to the corner store with my grandmother. I used to hear stories about her days as a lunch lady, how vibrant she was. To see her bound to a bed, nurses coming in and out to change her, and having to witness a machine breathe for her was awful.

My last memory of my grandmother was seeing her in pain and anguish. I would never wish a plight situation like that on my worst enemy. It was like seeing a bird with clipped wings.

But the most nerve-wrecking thing was to see my mother lose her mother that she’s been with her whole life. Everything referenced to a memory, to an old photo, shared recipe, or just the desire to be held in your mothers’ arms again.

Two years passed. Then in early 2010, my mom found a lump in her breast. As soon as she told me it took me back to my grandmothers’ funeral speaking in front of my whole family crying. There was a colossal sense of panic in my head after I received the news. Everything ceased including school, my peers, and sports. All that matters right now is my mother. She scheduled to get it examined and removed that night.

The cases for breast cancer are more diverse, the numbers are getting bigger every year, and most importantly more people are suffering. One in eight will get breast cancer in the United States and one in three people know someone who’s had breast cancer. Thursday, Oct. 20 is Pink Out Day. Show awareness for breast cancer and wear a pink shirt and buy a pink ribbon for 50 cents. Also this year, participate with Legacy in hosting Pink Fest 2011 on Nov. 5, 2:00-10:00pm. Support more research and receive more knowledge on breast cancer.

Many people remember where they were on that date. Many were at work. Many more our age were in school.

We were stretched out coast to coast, but found ourselves in New York City, at the Pentagon and in that field in Pennsylvania. For once, we were united as one.

The tenth anniversary of that day, 9/11 as it has become famous for, is this Sunday and, for intents and purposes, it is a day just simply to remember.

Too many times, however, when we talk about this tragic event, we lose sight of what really happened that day.

Say the words “Ground Zero” today and the Muslim mosque proposed to be built a couple of blocks from the site might come up. Say the words “9/11″ and Osama bin Ladin’s death might come up.

Too many times 9/11 has become the topic of controversy.

After those events, Americans looked into Islam and what they saw angered them. Though miscontrued, they believed every Muslim was like those who brought down the towers. Ever since, Islam has been trying to change that image.

The collapse of the towers have also become controversy. There is a faction of people out there who believe the government was in on the attacks. They are unable to comprehend that something like this could happen on it’s own with the government unaware of its planning.

Even the aftermath was coated in controversy. Decisions to go into Afghanistan and Iraq were question by many and the government simply pointed back to 9/11.

But when we do this as a nation, we fail to realize what happened that day.

Two thousand nine hundred seventy-seven people died in those attacks. Countless more directly affected by them in Manhattan and Washington D.C. A nation of over three hundred million watching helplessly.

Almost everybody who worked at the World Trade Center and Pentagon have a story to tell. For many, it’s about one person in the tower that stayed to help and most likely lost their life. They chose to remember them as heros.

And that’s what this tenth anniversary is about.

On Sunday, put the controversy aside and remember. Remember those affected, family members of those who lost their lives. The ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

In American/Texas history we have “Remember the Alamo”. “Remember the Maine” and “Remember Pearl Harbor”. It’s about time we add just one more.

“Remember 9/11″.

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most anti-racist books ever,” Mr. Stimmel said, “Mark Twain is not a racist.”

The removal of the n-word from the novel takes away from the story as a whole. If they have a problem with the word then they just shouldn’t read it. It’s not there to offend people, but to tell a story and teach a moral.

“I don’t think we should censor any books,” senior Alexis Escobedo said.

You can walk down the hallways of our school and hear the n-word being thrown around left and right. Many African- Americans in everyday speech use the word these days. Many no longer find it offensive. The book has been in the United States since 1885. Why is a change being made now?

“It’s not going to change anything. Using the n-word went with the story,” senior Josh Matthews said.

Would you change the words of Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr.? The book is a memento of history, it depicts the characteristics of a time period that is important to America’s history.

“People are making too big a deal out of this,” senior Liliana Perez said. “I think that the issue has been blown way out of proportion.”

“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a fine book and it teaches a life lesson. It should not be changed because it is great the way it is.

When people used to think of obesity, they thought of adults who did not exercise regularly, didn’t practice healthy eating habits, or self-restraint when it came to the buffet; but in the last 10 years the word “obesity” brings up thoughts of overweight children, some as young as four or five. With this growing epidemic the question rises, whose to blame? And what should be done about this huge issue in our country? Many people blame the parents of these kids, but even more people blame the ever growing and over-advertised fast food industry. But the real problem is the mis-advertising of fast food, even with the parents inability to say no to their children, or the lack of real time to make healthy meals at home, the fast food industry is responsible. They need to take it into their hands, and create healthy meal choices.

When it comes to the fast food industry, they are at fault our nation’s health issues. Truly starting right in the middle of the great depression, and really booming during Reconstruction, fast food served the busy moms and dads of America. They made it easier for mothers to hold jobs and feed their families at the same time. With the huge encouragement that fast food received for their easy, quick, and cheap food they ran with the ne. In the beginning, food from these “quick-service restaurants,” was made by the assembly line method, each worker had a simple task, so the food was prepared quickly, cheaply, and without any true skill. When fast food first began, real ingrediants were used but were fried in grease and fat. Nowadays, we have many health restrictions on fast food, but its obviously not enough. In most kids meals you get chicken nuggets, french fries, and some sort  of soft-drink; not exactly nutritional items for growing kids. Of course, these portions are small enough to meet nutritional guide lines, and there are alternatives, such as apples and milk, but even with these guidelines there are not enough food in these kids meals to fill children up, therefor they end of begging for more food and eating far more food than what’s healthy. It ultimatly defeats the purpose of the restrictions that have been placed on the kids meals. Along with these problems, fast food likes to advertise these fast food restaurants as fun places for kids to be, a place that any kid would want to go to over and over again, with play places, fun characters, and bright colors. Another draw to fast food establishments for parents is the comforting though that they are contributing to a good organization that gives back to the community, like the Ronald McDonald House, that heavily advertises how much each Happy Meal bough gives money to starving kids in our country; which is a wonderful cause, don’t get me wrong, but they are using this as a gimmick to get more business and fatten up America’s kids some more.

In hindsight, it is the parents responsibility to advert these attempts by the fast food industry, but in todays society with both parents the high grocery store prices, school plays, soccor practice, ballet, homework, and PTA meetings, parents simply don’t have the time to be conservative with their kids diet as is necessary for healthy weight kids. Because of the way that fast food advertises themselves as a source of help for the community, the parents aid, and the kids best friend, it IS their responsibility to clean up their act and make their meals healthier for kids. With the huge role they play in our country, it is their job, just as much as it is a parents to help feed kids with healthy and tasty food that will fill a kid up, while meeting nutritional requirements. It is what people are paying for in the first place.

We should not be defined by a handful of people that make poor choices. This student body is better than that. We should focus on the positive things our students do.

Our building is filled with students that have strong morals and spend every day making good decisions and trying to do the things the right way. Many of those students are angry about the theft that occurred on our campus. Many of them tried to help.

Most of the students here are good people that care more about others than themselves. In fact, most of the students partake in extra activities that focus on helping others. Every year around this time, people participate in “Adopt a Child”, which is an event that focuses on buying Christmas presents for those that are unable to get any otherwise. Also, we have an extremely active Key Club that has a crucial role in the community. Our Student Council hosts “Frog Week,” a school wide fundraiser to help make dreams come true for sick children. Both our band and choir work hard to earn high marks at UIL competitions throughout the year, both the football and volleyball teams went to playoffs and the tennis team won district. Not to mention that our teen leadership classes go to Glen Harmon once a week to read to younger students.

Our halls are filled with students and faculty members that go above and beyond to help others in need, no matter the self sacrifice.

The students and staff of Summit High School are based around a character of compassion and selflessness. This school is an honorable one that prides itself on a community of esteemed values and virtuous goals. Three students do not show the attitude of the entire school, and should not be seen as anything other than a magnificent establishment that is based on a tradition of excellence.

Texas is facing a major problem on the southern border, not too far from where Summit high school is located.  In Mexico, the drug cartels have realized that American’s love marijuana, and we love it for a much higher price than the Mexicans, so just over the border they can sell their green for as much as three times the amount that they would in their home land. This is what poses a threat to the security of many Texans, and the National Security in general. The legality of K2 could very easily remedy that issue. K2 is a synthetic drug, created in a lab to immitate the effects of smoking marijuana, and with it being legal, many “pot heads” have a legal alternative to lighting up the real thing. Legalizing the synthetic drug might lead to a lower popularity of the regular black market drug, which in response would also lower the temptations of Mexican cartels to come over here to sell.

K2 is also created, not grown like the real thing. Because K2 is a government sanctioned drug, which means that everything going into it can be monitored. Weed is generally sold to strangers, by strangers and that creates a high risk for getting a sack that is laced. Sometimes it is even laced with the common date rape drugs, called roofies.

Cell phones, MP3s, and laptops are accepted now on campus and are displayed freely. Never before has it been acceptable to have a phone out in sight of a teacher, but we have always got around that rule. Now students at Ben Barber can use their phones throughout the day without worrying about any consequences.

These new changes at Ben Barber are great, and the campus and it’s teachers are truly changing with the times. What is MISD doing to ensure that the four other home campuses evolve with our ever growing techie generations?

Here at Summit our classrooms have recently been rewarded with all new state-of-the-art projectors. Although that is one technological advance moving us closer to Ben Barbers standards we are still light years behind. No cell phones are allowed, no Mp3s, and no wi-fi.  Believe it or not our teachers still have VCRs checked out from the library. When one MISD school gets 200 MAC books and flat screens in many classes, we should be sitting just as pretty here at Summit.

For years it seems Ben Barber has been blessed with cooler technology, and better things in general. Why is Frontier the only campus with wi-fi and rules that give freedom to the students? The students that  attend there are the same that attend here, so the rules we follow should also be the same.

The same rules, regulations,  and privileges should be implemented here at Summit because we offer online classes that would benefit from wi-fi immensely. Also, we have culinary classes that would love to have the same kitchen as Savvy’s Bistro. Our district has somehow managed to decrease school spirit in all the home campuses just by favoring one. It is not uncommon now for students to plan their entire schedule at BBCTA simply because it’s so much “cooler.” Why would students want to go to a home campus with no freedom when they can go to Ben Barber and feel like they are just chilling at home with their friends? It’s about time that the district steps up and fixes this problem.