Brother's College Essay

This is my brother's college essay that he wrote. This is only the draft, but it brought me to tears because, I never knew that I was this to him. I love you Johnny!

Johnny Doak 9/16/2010
University of Maine personal


I have lived my life in the shadows. Having a brother who on senior awards night got the most awards in one night by one student is a hard thing to live up too. My brother has been an amazing student in his life and an even better overall person outside of academics. He has experienced more things in his life at 17 than most people will in an entire lifetime. I said I have lived my life in the shadows because I have lived in my brother’s footsteps my entire life.
My brother first job was scooping ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s, his second job was lifeguarding at the Glens Falls YMCA, and his third job is working at Camp Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch. My second job was scooping ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s because my brother dropped my name, I never filled out an application. My third job was lifeguarding at the Glens Falls YMCA because my boss loved my brother and found out that I am a lifeguard, and needed a new guard to replace my brother; I filled out the application after I had the interview. My latest job was working at Camp Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch, now this time I have to give credit to my mother, with my brother in mind.
My brother was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma, a rare childhood cancer in his lower back at the age of 12. My mother wanted my brother to go to Camp Double H to get away from all the stress in his life for just one week. My brother was kicking and screaming in the car ride to camp and hated my mother for forcing him to come to camp. When my mother came to get him on the last day he was crying because of the connections he had made with his fellow campers and the amazing counselors that work there, he didn’t want to leave. My brother then 4 years later applied to work at camp as a counselor so he could be apart of the magic at camp, two years after that I was applying to be part of the magic. Then just to go above and beyond, for all the time he spent in the hospital in that year of his treatment, all my brother wanted was to be able to hold onto something when he was scared. He had the idea to start a program call “Tim's Build-A-Bear Who Cares.” In the first year of this my brother was still in middle school and he took a volunteer group down to Albany to the Build-A-Bear Workshop and made about 100 bears. The club and my brother then went to Albany Medical Hospital, where my brother got his treatment, and donated the bears to the cancer child center and when each kid gets diagnosed they receive a bear to hold onto when they are scared or lonely or sad or just need something to hold onto. Now I am the Co-President of this program and my brother and I work together constantly to raise money for these children.
In my brother’s senior year of high school he volunteered on the Glens Falls Hospital Medical Mission in Guatemala, which I am going on with my mom in October of this year. Now I'm not saying that I have followed in my brother footprints for everything he has done, but when your brother is known by random people it is hard not to take the ideas of most of the things he has accomplished.
I said I have lived my life in the shadows, but in reality I have lived my life in the brightest of all light possible. When we were little my brother and I fought constantly, I can recall stuffing a sock in his mouth and accidentally ripping out his braces. Now that we are older and closer in maturity levels we can have a two minute conversation turn into hours. Timothy David Doak is my superhero, my role model, my mentor, and most of all he is my brother.

An Issue that needs to be addressed

This is a serious issue in our country. Bulling is something that needs to be STOPPED. Having differences is a gift, and not a burden. If you are different, be different. We are all different in our own ways, and we need to take those gifts and use them. Being a homosexual should not be a burden to your life because of ignorant people. Why do people feel so threatened by us? We have done nothing wrong, we just want to love, and share a happiness that heterosexuals share.

Children should not be committing suicide over something that can be stopped. If you see bulling, or someone making fun of someone behind their back, tell them to stop. We need to talk a stand on this issue, and nip it in the butt.

"Our greatest strength as a human race is our ability to acknowledge our DIFFERENCES, our greatest weakness is our failure to embrace them"

Who is Human Enough to Have Health Care?

I am a mentor for a Freshmen Seminar Class. Here at Shenandoah University, we have a different type of Freshmen Seminar Class; its called Going Global First Year Seminar. There are about 20 different classes and each class has a different global topic. The class that I am mentoring is, "Development and Disaster Relief: When and How to Assist."

For one of the classes, we talked about Health Care. The video that is the URL, is about a man who is changing the world of health care in very poor areas of the world. Dr. Paul Farmer has made hospitals all around the world and is still building.

While you watch this CBS, 60 Minutes Interview, think about the quote that he says

"If access to health care is considered a human right, who is considered human enough to have that right?" – Paul Farmer

Please click on this link to view the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS05uKPAcjI 

Summary of Life

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED: 1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats..
 2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
 3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
 4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
 5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food..
 6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair..
 7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
 8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
 9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
 10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandma's lap. 
 
GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
 1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
 2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
 3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts
 4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground...
 5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
 6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.. 
 GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
 1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional...
 2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
 3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
 4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
 5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions...
 6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician
 7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone. 
 THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE: 
 1) You believe in Santa Claus.
 2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
 3) You are Santa Claus..
 4) You look like Santa Claus. 
 
SUCCESS:
 At age 4 success is . . . . Not piddling in your pants.
 At age 12 success is . . . Having friends.
 At age 17 success is . . Having a driver's license.
 At age 35 success is . . . ..having money.
 At age 50 success is . . . Having money..
 At age 70 success is . .. . Having a drivers license.
 At age 75 success is . ... . Having friends.
 At age 80 success is . . .. Not piddling in your pants. 
 
 Always remember to forget the troubles that pass your way;
BUT NEVER forget the blessings that come each day. 
 Have a wonderful day with many *smiles* 
 

Take the time to live!!!
 Life is too short.
 Whoo-hoo! 

Strangest and most Beautiful Streets in the World

Just got this in an email. Thought I would share it with everyone




The Strangest and most Beautiful Streets in the World
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

Journals

I will share some of the journals that I have written while at Double H. They are the posts previous to this one. 

CAMPERS ARE HERE!!!!!

Sorry I haven’t wrote in this for a little while. Just needed some time to think and get my life together…and mostly just sleep!!!!

So session 1 has begun!! We have 13 girls in the Bobcat cabin, and they are all great!! We had a slow start today, but that was just the counselor just waiting around for the girls to get here!

They seemed to love the carnival or kick ball. They all came away with having something, or a good team feeling. But Program Showcase was the bomb.com! A-Team brought the house down!!!! First rotation of programming was really good. I talked to a bunch of people and they all seemed to say it went really well. A-Team had a great first rotation! The Bobcats went to Creative Arts and they did a fashion show, and it went well from what I heard!

The campfire was great! I got to snuggle up with Isabelle, and talk to a few other B-O girls! And then it was bedtime! Day 1 always goes by like a blur! After the girls went to bed, I had to lead the staff meeting, as that Liz had to deal with U.L. duties, of calling some parents about questions. I think I did a good job leading the meeting. It made me realize that I really want to be either a U.L. or A-Team Director…so who knows!!!!!!!!

Tonight will be short and brief, as that I’m tired! So what shall the week bring us now? More B-O ?!?!?!

Scared

So today was a very very very long day. It was non-stop going going going. Getting us ready for camp I guess. But even then we have some break!

During the morning we had our medical break out groups. During Emos session, she told a story of a video from her lifeguarding days. It was a video of a group of people in a pool surrounded by lifeguards all on high chairs. It was the end of a rotation of some short, and all patrons were asked to get out. As they were leaving, the guards saw a dead child on the bottom of the pool. Being a lifeguard, this scares the living day lights out of me! Being around water is the scariest part of my job here at HH.

Emo said a great line during this session, “I am always a little scared going to work every day. The day I am not scared is the day that I quit, because that will be the day that I make a life – threatening mistake.” Being here at HH, I think that we all should be a little scared of our jobs every day. Doesn’t have to be a lot, but just enough to keep us on our toes. It keeps us alert and tentative to our children here!

Another thing that we did today that really stuck with me is the emergency calls. My group had the one that if a few counselors were in a car accident the night before session started and alcohol was involved.  My group had talked and talked and talked about what to do. We had to act is out, which went fine. But at the end of the exercise, I wandered. What would I do if this really happened? I don’t know if I would be able to work as well with my children. I love every person here at HH. I don’t care if I may not like them. But I still love them and would do anything for any of them! That is what this HH family is about!

We also had our “Cabin Night” with the Chipmunk cabin. It went really well. As I was just typing this, an ant just crawled on my bed…ughh! Thank you Bed Bug Guy!! We, Bobcats, did a Toy Story theme scavenger hunt where they had to find Woody and Buzz and save them from Emperor Zurge. And they did a Dinner/Fancy/Auction/Something Event. It was a lot of fun!

I finally got off campus tonight and went to Lake George with a bunch of people. It was so nice and I forgot how nice it is when you have been on campus for a long time. We had a really good time just hanging out and talking about all different kinds of stuff. We also got to have some fun down at the beach area! ;-P

Today was just a stressful, tiring day I guess. And I took out from it that; I need to get ready for these days ahead. They will be long, and I will get tired! So get ready Summer ’10…here I come!

Learning

I am trying to do this every-day so that I have lots of memories and ways to see myself improve. So today I think I will talk about Learning.

Every day in my life, I try to learn something new. Weather its small, or big. Being here at HH for 7 years now, I still learn something new every summer about myself. This is my second year through full staff training. Yes, it is pretty much the same as last year; boring, fun, long, tiring. And it is pretty much the same information. But I still try and pull something new out that I didn’t know.

During lunch today, we had a huge dance party in the middle of the dining hall. It was FANTASTIC!!! We were all just jumping and dancing away like nobody cares! It just shows that here we can be who we are, and just be silly. I finally remember the quote that Liz Casline had said yesterday, “I can jump on the table here, and yell and scream. And I know that I will have support from everyone around me.” And its all true. No matter where you are at camp, or what you are doing. You always will have the support of each and every one of the staff. It doesn’t even matter if you are on campgrounds. You have their support.

We also got to do the Ropes Course tonight. It gave the Ropes staff some practice before the campers got here. But I think it also showed us, the staff, just what our campers are capable of. Megan McN. and I did the Dangling Duo. It’s where you have two people and they work together to get to the next level of the giant ladder. It is very hard, and very demanding. Our children here at camp, do that. They jump off the Flying Trapeze, and they do the Elvis Pelvis. They do all of this! How can people in the real world tell them they cant, when we see them do it in front of us? I just don’t know.

So I figured out what I learned today while writing this entry. I have learned that I need to do what our campers do more often, to put in perspective of how demanding their lives must be. 

Why?

So I have decided to start a journal for this summer. I have never really been able to keep a journal, just because I don’t like to write. But I figure, “Hey why not this summer?! I have a laptop I, I can do it on my bed in my room.” So here it goes!

So this summer started with Program Training, and I was a little nervous when I saw that there were sooo many new Program Staff. I was like wow!! But training for that went really, and we bonded like a great team!

Then came Inspiration. I had the siblings (1, 2, 3). They were great! They were a lot of work, with keeping them together and entertained, but it was a great week. 1 made about 10 or so jewelry things up in A&C, and 3 did a bunch of paintings that were very modern! 2 did everything and anything all week long. 4, from the Wolf Pack ended up having to come to this week, instead of regular camp. Which was really hard on us staff that had him last year in the Wolf Pack. But he is feeling better (even though he is physical off worse) which is what really matters. He became the Mayor of Camp, and he really lived up to the name!

On June 15^th, we welcomed in about 70 new staff to the HH family! 65% of the over all staff are returning staff!  It’s so great to see everyone from last year, and to see the new faces! I feel just after 2 days of training that we as a staff are going to be a great team!

“Dream Big” is the slogan for 2010. They have asked us, what are your Dreams? What are they for the summer? I really don’t know what dreams I have for the summer…I know it sounds weird. But I know that just because I am here, it is a Dream Come True!  Being here at HH is the best dream that anyone could ever have. It is a “wonderful place, with wonderful people” – 5 (Chipmunk ’09). I hope that maybe I can find another Dream this summer while being here. But we will have to compare this one and the last one I write.

The one big thing they asked us today (Day 2 of Training) was “Why? Why do we give up our summer to come up here, to HH?” At first, my answer was, why not?! Why would we not come here? I couldn’t imagine not being here for a summer. But as the day went on, and I heard what other people’s reasons were. I thought of it a little harder. My reason is because this place is home, its natural, its how life should be in the real world. HH is such a different place from the real world. People don’t understand why guys dress up in dresses and tight fitting costumes. Or why counselors will do anything and everything to make a camper have a fantastic time. We counselors always say, “You don’t know what we are talking about, until you experience it yourself.” And its true! The magic of HH can’t be told and understood from an outsider. You must become an insider.

Weirdo tonight at the Waterfront campfire shared why he keeps coming back to HH, and wrote a poem about it. It was amazing! It brought everything that any camper-counselor ever could think of. Him and I are one in a kind. We think very much a-like and it is sometimes kind of weird. But, he put it in exact words for what a lot of people feel. It runs in our blood and in our veins. It’s a big part of my heart and it will always be a part of my life.

Every time I look around the grounds here, I just smile. I think of the memories that I have as a camper, and the ones with my campers. I think of the memories that will be made the summer coming up, and the memories that will be made long after I am gone. But I will keep two things in mind all summer. 1. Dreams are made and 2. Why?

Health and Happiness 2010