Student in the Spotlight
Destiny Martinez is a junior at Thomas Edison Junior/Senior High School. She is the president of her class, a "straight A" student at the top of her class, and a 3-year veteran of Edison's cheer and Lady Eagles tennis teams. During all her years in high school, Destiny has put forth an effort to be in anything possible. She has participated in the tech crew, Gardening Club, Yoga Club, student council and the National Honor Society. Destiny is a member of Edison's marching, concert and jazz bands, and still finds time to be a member of her church's Fine Arts program. Even with all these activities, Destiny handles to keep her grades among the upper echelon of her class and never fails to put a smile on the faces of those around her.
Destiny spends a lot of her limited free time volunteering around the community, often doing way more than asked by her National Honor Society requirement. Just within the past few weeks, on March 4th, Destiny took part in the "Pack Away Hunger" event at Hobart High School along with much of her family.
"It felt amazing that day knowing that such a small group of individuals could improve the day-to-day life of so many others," comments Destiny on her experience.
With around 100 other volunteers, Destiny packed over 41,000 meals for those in need. But this is not Martinez's first rodeo, she is a frequent participant of the Edison Student Council's annual food drive.
"I very much enjoy the food drive every year at my school," adds Destiny, "so I really hope to bring an event like this to Edison's students and their families in the future."
It is sort of inspiring that her willingness to give and her thrive to change the world was not contained within her own school or even her own town. Whenever she gets a chance to help, Destiny is there.
Destiny Martinez is a hopeful Purdue Boilermaker and plans to attend their veterinary school, something she's wanted to do all her life. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, turtles or whatever, Destiny wishes to take care of animals for the rest of her life.
"I am not sure what kind of vet I want to be, but helping animals is my top priority." states Destiny on her future endeavors in the working world.
Only as a junior, this amazing young student is ready to make a stratospheric change in not only her community, but the entire world as a whole.
What's Happening: Dodgeball Tournament
On March 10, the Edison Physical Education Department held the 5th annual dodgeball tournament. During which a group of four boys, four girls or a co-ed team of two each, would duke it out until only one team from each category reigned supreme. All proceeds went to the Edison Physical Education Department to help purchase new and improved equipment. Without getting into the specifics, over the last few years the P.E. Department’s budget has been chopped down to virtual nothingness and this tourney is the one time that the gym classes at Edison make money to function.
“We went from deflated, ripped up, mushed balls to brand new dodge balls, basketballs and soccer balls all from one event,” comments Anna Armes, a senior and student assistant in junior high gym classes.
During a very long and very eventful night, a total of six teams were able to call themselves champs across three divisions for both high school and junior high. The winner of the high school bracket on the girls’ side was the team of Emily Childers, Anna Armes, Karlee Knight and Kayla Sowash. Emily Childers and Karlee Knight are repeat winners from the last tournament. The high school boys’ division was won by students Dominique Smith, Sean Gooch, Jordan Davis and Danny Andrade. Dominique and Sean are two of Edison's young and promising members of the varsity basketball team. The high school co-ed division was won by Hannah Newton, Marcus Farr, Allen Driver and the girls’ champ, Emily Childers.
All the glory didn't go to the high schoolers though; Edison's junior high was ready to state their claim in the tournament. The boys, led by fan-favorite Jeffrey Callahan, swept their final opponent to win their division. Jeffrey recalls playing with his teammates easy, because Michael Flores, Joey Kroledge and Baylor Sleziak are like brothers to him. The co-ed division was won by the team of Isabel Hernandez, Cesar Cardenas, Ethan Rios, and Alorah Hopper. Finally the girls’ division was clinched by Carlee Williams, Aubrielle Haden, Tali Gonzalez and Isabel Hernandez. But perhaps the biggest winner of the night was Edison's P.E. department and the students in gym classes. At $20 per team ($5 for each team member) and around 50 teams participating, the P.E. department brought in $1,000 on participants alone. Taking into account the packed bleachers at $3 per spectator, it is obvious that March 10th was a very good day for Edison Physical Education. Let it be known that many of the young kids are looking forward to the tournament coming back next year.