RIP Walk-a-thon: My last entry regarding the fundraiser.

Firstly, I apologize if for the last three weeks it has seemed like the only thing I talk about is walk-a-thon. I feel like I've been constantly nagged by walk-a-thon propaganda for the past three weeks - From Joe Dumars, to the flyers on my lunch table, to the 300 announcements made daily.

Let's put aside the fact that our school attempted to use a celebrity figure to coerece us into donating.

Let's put aside the fact that we're teaching our students that they don't have to work for what they want; they can simply have their parents write them a check, and then go take a walk in the park.

This is about our hypocrisy.

To this day it still infuriates me and frustruates me that we can so insouciantly justify spending almost $100,000 of student-earned money to build a "multi-purpose facility," when there are children 2 miles from our school that wake up hungry, go to sleep hungry, and eat granola bars and canned tuna to keep them fuctioning inbetween.

We do a quarter-hearted (half-hearted would be too generous) food drive for WHRC and believe we've fulfilled our job as "Christian People." I guarantee that we could have collected at least 10x the food for WHRC if our administration addressed the food drive with the same motivation and persistance as they did Walk-a-thon. Walk-a-thon got three weeks of announcements, collection days, rallies, and flyers. The food drive got a 5 second announcement between the "History Trivia" and the person who lost their backpack in the caf.

We didn't have a celebrity come and talk to the whole student body about the importance of rendering service, or our obligation to assist those who are less fortunate than us. We had a celebrity come and speak to us about the importance of donating material wealth, for a material good, so we can in turn look more prestigious with our fancy "all purpose facility."

I am very sorry to say this, but for the first time, I am not proud to be a student at NDP. I am disgusted. I am outraged. We are so quick to say what we do, and so quick to do something else.

So don't worry about the kids who will walk to school hungry. Don't worry about the kids that get their clothes from salvation army because they have to.

Just enjoy your gym.

Oh sorry, "multi purpose facility."

Be Smart: Think About Walk-a-thon

Dear Enemies and Friends Alike,

Yes, you're not mistaken. It's that time of year again, when you pay $100 for lukewarm hot dogs and a king size pack of M&M's. Somehow NDP's infamous "Walk-a-thon" has managed to keep a place on the school calendar, despite various protests from students every year.

But wait, I thought you could go around in your neighborhood and your neighbors and friends can make a donation to NDP? Then you don't actually have to pay the money, right?

"Yes, Hi Sir, I attend a Catholic Prep School, could you please give me some money so we can get a new gym at our school? What? No, we're not building a house or cleaning up trash. What are we doing? We're walking around a park, then eating hot dogs and playing frisbee. You think I have a lot of nerve asking for a donation when there are homeless people living right outside my school's walls?"

I don't know about you, but I would feel like an idiot asking someone to donate their hard earned pay to me so I could take a walk in the park.

All I ask of you, my fellow students, my peers, is for you to think.

Before you ask for those donations, or before your parents write that $100 check so nonchalantly, think about what this money is really being spent on. This year's walk-a-thon funds will be used for an auxiliary gym - basically an additional gym because of the various sports teams that need court time: basketball, volleyball, wrestling, etc.

Does our swim team have a pool? Does the track team have a track to run on? Does it seem right to supply the basketball teams with space so they can practice comfortably, when your fellow students have to go off campus to practice? They have no place to begin with, and our school is preoccupied with providing another gym for teams that already have a gym.

It is the mission of Notre Dame Preparatory to build Academic Scholars, Upright Citizens, and Christian People. If we truly wanted to live in conjunction with our so called "Mission Statement," shouldn't we perhaps use the funds to benefit NDP students academically?

The truth is, I don't even think it is even the auxiliary gym portion of walk-a-thon that is the main problem. The root of the problem is walk-a-thon itself. 800 students go on buses, and walk around in a huge circle. In a park. We walk. In a park. NDP, as a catholic institution, commends community service. Why don't we put into action what we talk so much about - helping others, the less fortunate, those that need our assistance. Perhaps cleaning up a park, or renovating a house or a building. This could instill a timeless principle in our students - that you have to work for the things you want. We're not helping anyone by walking five miles in the rain.

I think I would have a much different attitude towards walk-a-thon if it was service based, but the fact is, it is pleasure based. We walk, we please ourselves with all the food we want, and then get a (fill in the blank) for our school.

My intentions are not to get a school-wide boycott of walk-a-thon, or somehow dethrone the administration for continuing this ridiculous fundraiser. All I ask of you, my fellow students, my peers, is for you to think.

Dear Friends,

I made a pact with myself that I would never write an entry about any celebrities that agitate me. It simply stirs up too many emotions, and I get angry and frustrated questioning how some of these celebrities gained their A-List status.

Regardless, I am going to go out on a limb and say that Lindsay Lohan is not attractive at all. I understand that her performance in Mean Girls has been considered "cute" and "bubbly", but it is not grounds to make her the apotheosis of teen movie stars. Her musical endeavors are subpar at best, and her clothing choices are interesting to say the least.

I am by no means a fashion expert, but even I am able to judge when something should be worn or used as a rag to clean up an oil spill. Take into consideration the following photos, and keep in mind that Lindsay Lohan's fashion sense has been considered "funky and spontaneous".



I guess you could consider this "spontaneous" if she aimed to spontaneously look like a dirty hippy about to embark on a journey to a Pink Floyd concert. I renounce everything I've stated about her fashion, it is clearly very spontaneous. FYI Lindsay, you won't be able to get into the concert if you're not wearing shoes. LOL



Out of all seriousness, I will give someone a dollar if they can come up to me with a straight face and say this is stylish. This looks like a mix between something my grandma would quilt in her spare time and something I'd wear to protect myself from a blizzard. Lindsay, you have no business wearing this unless you plan on using it as a tablecloth for a picnic on the beach (even if that's the case, it would make a sketchy tablecloth). If you are using it as a tablecloth, I commend you for using your body so resourcefully.

I could say more, but I won't. I don't want to contribute to Lindsay Lohan's downfall or anything.