Presentation: Eva Olsson, Holocaust Survivor

I step into the chapel, breathe in the typical smelly scent of the old place. I see the woman, Eva , and shoot a friendly smile her way. I knew it, just another boring presentation, like all the others. But as she started to speak, the expression in her voice impressed me, for a woman her age. I listen intently, taking in all she has been through, trying to imagine what it was like for her. I look at her carefully and see the terrible fear in her eyes.

On October 26th, 2009, all of middle and upper school saw an inspiring woman speak to us, Eva Olsson, one of the few Holocaust survivors. For fifty years, she didn't speak of it at all, then she finally had an outbreak, and told the world of her terrifying story of the Holocaust. It just amazed me how much she has been through in her life, and to have the courage to fight through it all, that's just unbelievable. It was very inspiring and touching, and she inspired me not to use the word hate so often. She taught us so much about the Nazi bullies, and how hate overcame Hitler and his soldiers. Just a single word can have the largest impact on anyone. Now every time I say that word, I'm going to think about it first, do I really hate it? Hate is something I hear every day, but now that I've heard Eva's experiences, I've learned to think about what I do or say. Is it right? Should I be doing/ saying this?

Eva talked to us about being a bystander only encourages the bullying more. She told us that Hitler could have never accomplished his task without the bystanders. As she walked to the box cars, she remembered all the bystanders, lining up as if watching a holiday parade. Isn't that terrible?

On the ride there, there was one bucket of water to be shared among the hundreds of Jews in the box car, all forced to stand the whole way to Auschwitz. As the Jews were lined up, they were inspected, then sent to the left or the right. People sent to the right were to start working right away, people sent to the left, were sent to the gas chambers, a place no one knew about until they were sent there. Only people in perfect condition would be sent to the right, and maybe live for the first day of harsh work. Whereas people with even just a small scratch or scar, were sent to the left. The hardest thing for Eva was when she was sent to the right, but her mother parted from her as she was sent to the left. Eva told us how she didn't even get the chance to tell her how much she loved her mother for the last time.

Diseases overcame most people, and millions of people died. Eva told us that, not accidents, not sicknesses, but the "h" word killed millions of innocent Jews, just because of their religion.

We learned a few lessons from that amazing speech by Eva:

1. being a bystander to bullying, only bullies the victim even more

2. drinking and driving is not a good choice.

3. the "h" word killed millions of innocent people

I stand up, and am speechless as I leave the chapel. I learned very valuable lessons, that will change my life forever.

Norval

I step off the school bus to find myself standing in grass, staring out into the beautiful open field of Norval. As I stand there, trying to take in all of the beautiful landscape, I realize people are trying to pass me, eager to start the day ahead of them. I take a few steps, still dazed in the amazement of the place. It looks so familiar. I'm trying to remember when I was here in the past, but the picture is too fuzzy to recall. I take a few more steps, struggling to pull myself together, when I see friendly faces. I gain more confidence and follow the crowd, ready to start a day of adventure.

On October 19th, The middle school went to an outdoor centre called Norval. We called it "Team Building Day" because it required some teamwork for the activities we did in the morning. As we got off the bus, they gathered each grade together to do some mini games. The first game was to attach clothes pins to the back of your shirt, and try to grab as many clothes pins as you could off of other peoples shirts. The next game was you were to get into partners, and the person who was "it" would spin around in circles, while the other partner would make a great escape, but speed-walking. Then the chase began as the two would speed-walk after each other. It was quite funny, actually. Then we did the same thing, except we had to have one eye closed, and the other eye would be cupped, to make a cone to make it harder to see. It was rather entertaining to see people collide with each other. Then we split into groups to start the real action.

For the first half of the day, we did low ropes with the group you were chosen to work with. In my group, we did four activities:

1. We had to arrange ourselves in alphabetical order while standing on wooden poles

2. We had to walk across wires attached to trees, with only ropes to stabilize us.

3. We had to walk across wires, again, to transfer from one platform, to another, using ropes, and each other.

4. We had to figure out some way to push a tire off of a tall pole

One activity I think we did well was the second one, walking across the wires. We figured out a great strategy where when someone got to a tree, they would pass the rope attached to that tree to the person behind them, helping them to get across to the next tree. Then the person behind would pass the rope to the person in front of them, and the person in front would carry on to the next tree. It was a challenging activity, but we made it through okay.

Another activity I think we didn't do very well at was the last one, getting the tire off the tall pole. Everyone pitched great ideas- we had ideas from a human pyramid to a human staircase. We even had people standing on each others shoulders! It also helped that we had the smallest and tallest people in our grade in the group, but we still couldn't get the tire off. No one was put down for having a bad idea, we just did something crazy and dangerous when someone pitched the idea. It was actually really fun. My favourite idea was the human staircase. Although it didn't work, it was still really fun to be a part of. Another cool idea that almost worked was that we lifted the smallest and lightest person up on the tire up to the top, and then while she was dangling at the top, holding on for dear life, we tried to think of an idea to get the tire up to her so she could lift it off. That was probably my favourite activity, even though we didn't accomplish the task.

Overall, I thought of the day as fun and entertaining. The activities were a great start for the day, and to top it off, we even did a drum circle! It was fun and everyone participated. It sounded amazing! It was great how the leader got everyone's attention, and he barely said anything. Everyone did what he wanted them to do. They stopped when he motioned us to, and started drumming a certain way by just using his hands as a tool. It was a great way to end the day. The trip got initiative, participation, and teamwork out of everyone.

As I take the first step onto the bus, I memorize all the fun memories I gained that day, that I will remember forever. As I take my seat, I'm sad to leave such a happy place, and I'm excited to come back again next year, for another fun-filled day at Norval. I wave good-bye to the friendly faces and hope to see them again soon.

Does Clothing Shape Who You Are?

I think that the clothing you wear does not shape who you are. When you shop for clothes, you don't always look for clothes that match your character, right? You just shop for the kind of clothing you like and what you think looks best on you.

For example, geeks. Everyone pictures someone smart as a geek, or whatever they want to call them. Wearing glasses, knee socks, and overalls. But when someone is really smart, it doesn't make them uncool. Or the opposite, if someone is popular, then some people might think of them as stupid. What I'm trying to say is that if someone is or is not smart, that doesn't change their appearance. Another example is Lady Gaga. She dresses extremely weird, right? It looks like she's going to a costume party, but I have read in some magazines that she is totally down to earth and normal. I mean, I expected her to be really strange because of the way she looked, but, apparently, she's pretty normal. That's one reason not to judge a book by its cover.

I think that they have children dress in uniforms because first they want the school to look nice and orderly, but second because they care about the children. They don't want the children to be judged by how they look. Some people judge others by how they look or dress before they actually know what the person is like. That is completely unfair. First impressions on people are not how they dress, but how they act.

I dress really colourful, but I'm really actually very shy. When I go shopping I usually go shopping in most of the popular stores. Not because I want to copy everyone else, but once I actually look at it a few times, I like it. Sort of like songs. Whenever I go onto iTunes, I look up the top songs, and I listen to them. I don't really like them at first, but then I listen to them a few times on the radio, and I end up liking them in the end. And when I walk into stores, I usually look for the bright colours, you know the ones that give you some attention, but the truth is, I really don't like having a lot of attention.

That is my opinion on why I think clothing does not shape who you are.