Dominique Fernandez, Poised for Great Discoveries
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- Category: Featured Teen
- Published on Friday, 14 December 2012 16:45
- Written by Renee Montgomery
Dominique’s mother told her “You have to do what you have to do, in order to someday do whatever you want to do.”
A senior at West Adams Preparatory High School, Dominique Fernandez is President of College Ambassadors and Bible Club, Treasurer of Thespian Society and a member of Senior Cabinet.
Dominique has served in two internships -- at Iridescent Learning, a summer engineering camp and through the LA-HIP program, at Saban Research Institute, a biomedical research lab affiliated with the Children’s Hospital. LA-HIP gives opportunities to Hispanic and African-American students. Out of about 100 applicants, only 16 are chosen for the prestigious program, which pays for transportation, food, and SAT test preparation. For six weeks Dominique worked in the lab studying the regeneration of zebra fish hearts at the end of which she had to present her research in front of the hospital’s employees, family and friends.
“I learned that at juvenile stages, the species of zebra fish have this rare ability to regenerate their heart. After an induced injury, the regenerated heart shows no scars, as though an injury was never performed. Mammalian hearts, such as our hearts, are vulnerable to heart disease and heart attack nearly always causing death, and they definitely do not have the ability to regenerate. The regenerative processes of the zebra fish are far along the line from when it may help us discover something new about human hearts but there is a possibility that someday in the future, this study might be the answer our human race has been looking for.”
“School or education has always had a place in my heart,” explains Dominique. “Although, school can definitely be challenging sometimes, I always think about my future and how my hard work will pay off. My favorite subject is math. I am currently taking AP Calculus BC” (in other words, advanced calculus). She prefers math because it is “EXACT.” “I think that aspect makes students work harder to get an answer or solve a problem because there are no in-between answers,” Dominique explains.
She also enjoys public oration, frequently speaking in front of students, staff, college reps, and even at the 2012 Gala of the organization LA’s Promise. The busy 17-year old has also appeared in the high school musical productions of Little Shop of Horrors and Hairspray.
Dominique hopes to become an engineer and is currently applying to several private colleges, including Stanford, USC, CalTech, Harvey Mudd, and possibly Smith.
TNN Saulutes You!
Kyle Pratt from Kinney Heights, Climbing New Heights
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- Category: Featured Teen
- Published on Friday, 12 October 2012 13:51
- Written by Kyle Pratt
Alaska’s Mount McKinley stands at 20,320 feet, making it far and away the highest mountain in North America. To climbers and locals, however, it is better known by its Athabaskan name, Denali. Like many American and international mountaineers, the challenge Denali offered piqued my imagination.
Despite being shorter than other Himalayan peaks, Denali is located farther north, and the mountain presents comparable if not more unforgiving cold and weather than peaks in Asia. So in the spring of last year, I recruited two friends and climbing partners to make a summer attempt on Denali.
In June, we arrived in Anchorage, AK and took a two hour train ride inland and north to Talkeetna, a small town in the Alaskan lowlands that is the universal fly-out point into the Alaska Range. From the airstrip in Talkeetna, a ski-equipped plane took my team and our equipment and dropped us off at an elevation of 7,000 feet on the Kahiltna glacier. As we approached, our first view of Denali’s hulking south face both amazed and petrified us all. We were eye to eye with the largest mass of rock and ice in the world, and at that moment we felt delusional in our desire to summit.
The cure to this fear turned out to be thinking in small steps, often quite literally. Moving from Base Camp to an intermediary camp at 8,000 feet,
we found looking up at high camp irresistible, but demoralizing. Looking 14,000 feet up at the summit reminded me of the pain that it would take to get there, and it seemed overwhelming. Instead, my partners and I made sure to keep focused on each moment, in making each day and each step our collective masterpiece. Resisting the urge to look towards the summit, we found ourselves in the main camp at 14,000 feet in only a week. From here, we only needed a few days of good weather to reach the top.
Perhaps our most difficult day involved the move from our comfortable, even plush camp at 14,000 feet towards the high plateau at 17,000 feet that served as the final stop before a summit attempt. This day, essentially divided into two segments. First came fixed lines – a set of pre-placed ropes that we could clip into in order to climb up a thousand feet of steep ice. The famous “16 Ridge” was next. Many Denali veterans say that climbing 16 Ridge is the most breathtaking and unsettling leg of the climb, owing both traits to the 3000-foot drops on either side of the ridge. As we began up the ridge, however, a small storm developed, whiteout fog swallowing both the ridge and us. Even worse than the weather was that Jacob, my teammate, was getting high-altitude sickness. We were all scared to see the warning signs – shaky hands, struggling for breath – begin to settle in. In the worst conditions, with high camp seeming perpetually far-off, I walked up to Jacob and promised that we would reach high camp, that when we got there we would keep him safe. That small gesture of assurance made all the difference, and as the bright orange tents of high camp were just visible on the other side of the ridge, the whiteout cleared, and we were in bright sunlight looking down into a sea of clouds.
A few days later, we were dividing our rope and tightening our harnesses to try for the summit. As I write now, I can’t remember or hope to describe the sensation of pain and fear that set into my body above 18,000 feet. All I can recall is the hopelessness of feeling my body slow down and still understanding that the summit ridge was, for all intents and purposes, light-years away. Our group split up briefly and regrouped at our most worried moment. Sitting together on a rock pile at 19,000 feet we confided our fears to one another but were able to push ourselves through those final, painful hours. Fatigue and an intense pressure to stop, to head down set in, but we were able to use our team’s greatest potential for support and unity, to continue. Because of this, the three of us summited together and remain great friends.
L- R Jacob Iverson, Kyle Pratt, Jackson Armstrong
Bella Hutchinson. Making a Difference in Haiti
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- Category: Featured Teen
- Published on Saturday, 25 August 2012 17:22
- Written by Dianne Lawrence
I grew up in a very creative family; my father, Ron Hutchinson, is a writer, my mother, Alisa Taylor, worked in the entertainment business and was a dancer, and my elder brother, Nick Hunt is also a writer. Therefore it was pretty much expected that I would become a writer/artist too.
However, I had a pretty drastic change of heart during 9th grade. Now, applying to colleges, I am looking not for a great art school, but a school with fantastic international and pre-med programs.
I have been on many medical trips, but my latest was a 10-day trip to Haiti with a team of about 30. The team included three doctors, a bunch of med students, a handful of residents and a couple of paramedic/EMTs.
I have my EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and first responder qualifications and a lot of experience in the field, however it was still a surprise to me when I was put as the head of wound care for the team. This meant I was in charge of all the wounds presented. I would have to clean them, apply medicine, wrap them up and even occasionally stitch them up.
Now at this point you’re probably wondering if that’s even legal. Trust me, I did too. But, working in a third-world country with
little to no healthcare provided, things like legalities seem trivial. The wounds I dealt with, while big enough to warrant a trip to the ER in the United States, weren’t big enough that I could make a mistake and hurt the person further. Most needed just a quick squirt of alcohol, a swipe of antibiotic cream and a nice bandage accompanied by the occasional lecture about keeping the area dry and clean, applying the medicine we supplied daily, not picking at it, etc. More intense injuries included a saline rinse, stitches and sometimes,anesthesia.
I learned to administer Lidocaine in the back of a bus meant for about 10 people instead of the 20 standing around watching, not including the kicking child I was working on, and three assisting medical students (all at least five years older than me) calming him down and holding him still. I use the term “learned” loosely; it was more like the doctor handed me a syringe and said, “go.” Nevertheless, I have mastered the task of sticking people with needles pretty well and have ever since been the go-to person when the doctors are too busy or overwhelmed to do it themselves.
Despite the many odd, frustrating, intense and hilarious situations I have been in, what sticks out the most to me are the people. The two things I see the most in these situations are desperation and hope. Usually the two come at you so fast that it’s only afterwards that you really realize what it was you saw. You can look in one direction during clinic and see people yelling and shouting in order to get to the front of the line, and then immediately look the other way and see people laughing and smiling as they receive a supply of vitamins and antibiotics. It’s an intense atmosphere and you never quite know how to act as you’re bombarded with these visuals from all directions.
Without a doubt, though, the people are the best part of the trips. It is for this reason I enjoyed teaching community education the most. Small classes about the correct way to wash your hands and brush your teeth brought such joy to people. The desperation to learn, the gratefulness...., and the hopefulness are worth everything. The giggles and smiles from children when playing soccer with them, the laughs and hugs from parents when their children are given attention, the tears and crying from families when negative diagnoses are given, the wonder and content from mothers hearing their babies heartbeat for the first time, and all of the bad and the good? It’s the people that make it worth it. Because that is something that will never fade. The medicine may be gone, but the friendships and memories that were made? They’ll stay on forever.
Alexa Bates & Nina Milligan.
- Details
- Category: Featured Teen
- Published on Saturday, 25 August 2012 17:38
- Written by Dianne Lawrence
Local Junior Olympic Stars
Mid-City was proudly represented at the recent Jr. Olympics thanks to the accomplishments of local teen sports champs Alexa Bates, a USATF National Silver Medalist in 2009 and Nina Milligan, both residents of Lafayette Square. On July 23rd - 29th they competed for the fourth straight year in the Junior Olympics held in Baltimore and are on a clear fast track to becoming Olympians in their twenties.
L-R Bottom - Autumn Wright, Nina Milligan; Top - Alex Haley, Kenndi Adkins
Alexa’s team ‘Southern California Running Cougars’ competed in the 4x100m relay. Alexa also served as an alternate for the 4x400m relay. Unfortunately the Cougars missed advancing by 1/100ths of a second and did not qualify for the finals. There was a dramatic turn of events when the score board initially had them winning the race, then was suddenly revised, putting them in 2nd place. Her coach submitted a protest and the officials had to pull the photo, which shows the other girls torso crossing the line just before Alexa’s. Still an extraordinary show of talent on Alexa’s part and TNN salutes you!
Nina’s relay team the LA Jets is ranked third in the nation, with Nina in the top ten in her personal event. Their hard work won the gold this year in the 4x400m relay making them the fastest Youth Girls 4/400 relay team in the country. Three Cheers! --Alexa Bates pictured running in front--
When asked what they think about when competing, the two girls answered like the serious athletes they are: “I am mostly focused on catching the person ahead of me and not letting the person behind me catch up to me,” replied Alexa. Similarly Nina stated, “I get a little nervous but then realize I just have to do what I do, -- that if I fall to the level of my training, I’ll do fine.”
Youth On Fire, Juana Molina and Erron Harris
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- Category: Featured Teen
- Published on Tuesday, 03 August 2010 21:54
- Written by Renee Montgomery
Most 19 year-olds are focused on completing their general college requirements, their next date, or losing their ‘freshman fifteen.’
Juana Molina and Erron Harris on the other hand are preoccupied with opening up their second church site.
Juana and Erron are the starters and leaders of a novel church in the Vermont/Washington area. Titled Youth on Fire, their ministry focuses on empowering young people through Christ.
Raised in the Exposition and Slauson areas, Juana and Erron’s spiritual quest began in high school when they began attending a local “Simple Church.” Evolving in reaction to the bureaucracy and trappings of large organized religions, Simple Church is a contemporary evangelical movement concentrating on pure faith and one’s relationship to Christ and each other. But Juana and Erron were troubled by seeing teenagers fall away from church after high school and so decided to develop their own Youth on Fire church as a congregation kids could connect with.
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