Veronica Alvarez’s Essay appears below:

A Teacher Never Forgotten

Someone once said that, “to teach is to touch lives forever.” There are moments when in the blink of an eye weeks have gone by. There are moments when you turn to look around and you feel like you are just drowning in a glass of water, with all that is going on. It is in these moments in which people leave their footprints embedded in your life. I will never forget a very important set of footprints that have been embedded into my life. The most courageous man in the world left these set of footprints. My teacher. Mr. Matthew Hundley.

I have had Mr. Hundley as a teacher three times in my life. Each of those three times I have come to admire him more and more. Mr. Hundley has been a teacher who has taught me so much more then English, Speech, and Drama. He has taught me that in life you must stand up for what you believe, even if you are the only one standing alone. He has defended so many people in the world without any of them knowing it. He is the reason that I will never feel different and I will never feel like just because I am a different race and I speak a different language than 98% of everyone in my school, I am still special.

In my school people have often times said hurtful things simply out of ignorance. They have criticized groups of people that they have never even gotten to know. Every single time that someone has said an ignorant comment, every time that someone has made another person unknowingly feel bad in this world, Mr. Hundley has been there to defend that person no matter who they are, or what they look like.

Mr. Hundley makes teaching English into a journey of discovery. Mr. Hundley is always reminding people of the greatness they have within themselves. He looks at every student as a bright light in the tunnel of life. He has hopes and aspirations for each one of us. You can always expect to find Mr. Hundley standing outside of his classroom greeting every single person in the hallways with a smile. He will always be there every passing period. I actually have come to believe that Mr. Hundley is an energizer bunny that never stops smiling. I know that twenty years from now I will always remember high school as one of the greatest times of my life.

However, the most important thing that I will remember are the memories of Mr. Hundley defending me like no other teacher ever had before. He has touched my life in a way that no teacher ever has. His passion for his students and his positive outlook on life lead me to believe that people like Mr. Hundley are the ones that can be called special teachers who can change a student’s life forever.

Veronica Alvarez, Grade 12

The two lifts that the weight classes did were bench and power cling.

“I worked so hard all year long to reach my goal. It’s kind of fun because we have little competitions between people. In the end I think Barta was pleased with how much I lifted,” Amber Searles, 10, said.

Over 100 students participated in the lift-a-thon. Out of these, three boys competed to break the school record and to beat their own personal best.

“I was so happy when I actually broke the school record for bench. I ended up lifting about 315 pounds so it was also my personal best. I can’t wait to see how much more weight I can get up to next year,” Drake Ewing, 10, said.

For the senior class, this was their last time that they could reach their personal best. Some achieved this while other fell a little short.

“I wasn’t really upset that this was my last lift-a-thon. I ended up reaching my goal so I was pretty satisfied with how the night went,” Kelsey Helus, 12, said.

The freshmen through juniors can come back next year to continue improvement. Barta strives for teens to do the best that they can and that’s all he could ask for.

We all have gone through it. The whole “I hate parking so far away,” and “The upperclassmen don’t even use the end of the parking lot,” when we are underclassmen.  It really doesn’t matter if we use it though. It has been an issue probably for a lot of years, but most definitely since I have been in high school. It’s a respect issue.

Posting stuff on Twitter and Facebook just makes things worse. After stuco gave out 25 tickets one day this semester, there were probably 30 tweets or more of complaining about the tickets. If you have a problem with it, talk to the stuco president or someone else you think may be worth talking to. It only makes the upperclassmen angrier when you complain about it.

“I never parked in the senior/junior parking lot as an underclassmen,” said Alexa Kitrell, senior. “I just put myself in their shoes and realized that I will have my turn.” The only reason we get so mad is because we were in your shoes once and most of us tried our best to park in the gravel. There isn’t much room but come on, 25 parking tickets in one day? Now you see why we ticket.

I know that its hard to park in the gravel especially when its raining and muddy and you have the cement to park on right next to it but take into consideration that you will be an upperclassmen one day though and having to deal with underclassmen just like you.

Rundown word of the Day: Ham,

Definition: not sure

Usage in a sentence: We gonna go “Ham” tonight and win this game.

Start using it every chance you get people, Z better be hearing it in the halls or he get upset.

Congratulations to the Girls basketball team for making it to state for the 6^th year in a row. That’s gotta be a record

Congratulations on a great season to the wrestlers and good job to all the wrestlers that competed at state

As for the boy’s basketball team, it was a great year and the memories we all made together will never be forgotten

It’s time for March Madness Baby, the Kansas State wildcats are poised for a huge tournament run this season. Rodney McGruder gonna lead us to the promise land.

As for the Jayhawks, good for you, you made it again. Now maybe you let someone else win a Big XII title. One word, SELFISH

Linsanity sparked Harvard to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1946. Congratulations to the Crimson, that Lincredible.

Linsanity is still Lingering, but the Knicks need to start Linning again if the want to make it to the LinBA playoffs.

Rajon Rondo’s performance against the New York Knicks was Linsane, 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists. Why on earth would the Celtics want to trade Mr. Rondo?? Sure he throws basketballs at Refs, but c’mon those are some good stats

The masked mamba is a force to be reckoned with, the Lakers are looking to make a late-season surge into the playoffs. Heck as soon as Kobe’s nose heals, I vote he keeps the mask, his intimidation level is sky-high

ZP dislikes the Heat from Miami, therefore I’m going to give a shoutout to the Miami Heat, let’s get it done not once, but twice, three times, four, five, six maybe.

Now on to god’s sport, Baseball

The Royals are no longer undefeated this spring, dangit

Predictions for the upcoming year, Z has the Royals winning the World Series, L’eggo!

More realistically though, the Royals will finish second in the division behind the Tigers that cheated and stacked their team. Forgot

Hosmer going to rock the Mohawk hairstyle this year again, that alone will boost his batting average up 10 points.

Question: How the heck did Ryan Braun avoid the 50-game suspension?

Answer: He lied, he did the Roids. Not that hard.

The Diamondbacks, Giants, and the Bees all played against each other in a spring game recently, the swarm of several hundred bees interrupted the game leaving multiple stings on players and fans. Definitely gives a new meaning to the phrase, “beeline for Home

Bounty hunters playing in the NFL? That just sounds messed up.

According to sources, previous New Orleans Saints, defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams offered money to take certain people out of the game including targets such as Brett Favre, and Michael Vick.

Peyton Manning is officially going to be released from the Colts organization.

ZP says he will end up in the greatest city on earth, known as Kansas City and will be in red this season.

I respect that

Matt Cassel, you might as well start requesting a trade.

As you are reading this last part, you might as well start applauding, this was definitely Z and Jakes best effort on behalf of the Rundown. Your thanks are appreciated and stay fresh.