Jesslyn Adams

                  Have you ever blown your nose and had an unexpected visitor appear in the tissue? Jesslyn Adams, 16, had this undesired event happen to her one day. “I was washing my hands when my nose started tickling,” said Adams.

                  As Adams was washing her hands one after, she started feeling a tickling sensation in her nose. After blowing her nose she looked into the tissue, to her surprise, there was spider! “I ran to tell mom, but I tripped and fell into her door,” said Adams, who also has arachnophobia (the fear of spiders).

                  Growing up, Adams lived with her mom and travelled from city to city, sometimes the same city more than once. “I was born in Roanoke, moved to West Virginia, back to Roanoke, then to Raleigh, North Carolina, then to Rocky Mount, back to Roanoke, and now I live in Roanoke County,” said Adams.

By Willis Page

Willis Page

He tried out a few different sports, but basketball was the sport for Willis Page.  “I love basketball.” Willis replied as I asked him how he felt about it.  He goes by the name Will.  Will grew up with his parents Frank and Sheila.  Frank is the senior executive of sales, and vice president of Lake Region Medical.  Sheila is a realtor at Roanoke and Smith Mountain Lake (SML).  He was born and raised in Roanoke Virginia. Will had just turned 17 on August 3^rd, 2015.  Will’s heritage is Caucasian and Native American.  Will was named after his grandfather Willis Page.  He is the oldest sibling out of Frank and Sheila’s kids.  His little brother’s name is Caleb Page.  Caleb is 15 years old.

            Will Page plans on graduating high school, then attending college afterwards.  He would like to go to Virginia Tech University, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Coastal Carolina University, or Texas and Corpus Christi A&M University. If he goes to Virginia Tech University, then he would like to get a degree in business and engineering. But if he goes to any of the other colleges listed, then he would like to get a degree in marine biology.  Now, he likes basketball, but he isn’t going to college just for it, He might play basketball while he’s in college, but he isn’t really looking to go to the NBA or anything like that.  Well, he isn’t for now.  Whether he gets a scholarship in basketball or not he’ll be set with or without one.  Will would eventually; in his later future, like to like to settle down on Carmen Island, Florida Keys, or Wilmington, North Carolina.

            Now, Will Page had been playing basketball all his life, “I’ve been playing basketball since before I could remember.” He said.  He’s on the school team, and he plays for fun with his buddies at the recreational center.  He used to play baseball in 7^th grade, then football in 8^th, but he realized basketball was his kind of sport.  Not to mention he has the right height for it.  Will is 6 feet and 3 inches tall.  His worst injury happened while playing basketball.  He was playing in a tournament at the spectrum, and he dove on the floor after the loose ball and he hit another player’s head; who also dove on the floor going after the ball.  But that did not stop Will from wanting to play, I recall him saying “After my concussion, I could not wait to get back out on the floor and play.”  Basketball for Will is his motivation.

Jesslyn Adams

Anthony Luminella

Dropping items is a normal occurrence, but dropping a school laptop over a railing and down a floor brings a whole new meaning to clumsy.  Luminella, 16, and his brother, Brennan who is currently enrolled at Oak Grove Elementary School and his mother who is a banker moved to Roanoke from Abingdon early in his life.  Luminella’s hobbies include reading science fiction book and working with laptops and computers.  As much as he enjoys working with laptops in his freshman year, his laptop met an unfortunate fate.  The stories have circulated throughout the adolescent halls of Hidden Valley, but Luminella tells it as such “I was trying to check blackboard for a test and I had my laptop sitting on the railing.  When I went to turn around to talk to Caleb Smith, I accidentally knocked it off.  I turned back around just in time to watch it explode against the ground floor.” After the spill Luminella reports “The most embarrassing part was the walk of shame carrying all of the parts with all of the teachers and students watching.”

Luminella has had an interest in laptops since he was very young and still remembers getting his first laptop at age 9.  “As soon as the laptop was placed in my hands I felt myself becoming more responsible.” said Luminella.  When asked where his first laptop is today, he replied “In pieces”, ironically his laptop from freshman year seemed to fallen victim to the same outcome.  

            When Luminella brought his mangled laptop to Mr. Fundikowski he claimed “Fundi didn’t ask many questions, which was surprising.” After chatting with the eyewitness, Caleb Smith, the story was confirmed.  Smith also added “It was pretty funny except for the people below, who got scared at the fact that a laptop just smashed against the ground.” Looking to the future Luminella wants to attend college; however, he is not sure where.  Regardless of future education his carrier choice is in the internet technology field, where we can only hope that none of those laptops end up in pieces as well.  

By: Grace Landolt

Taylor Cundiff

Taylor Cundiff (16) definitely has a heart for animals. Ever since she was little she has been in love with furry creatures, big and small. Her first animal ever was a Jack Russel Terrier named Buffy and ever since then her love for animals hasn’t changed one bit. She hopes one day animals can be a big part of her future, which she has big plans for. “After high school I would like to go to Virginia Tech to become a large animal vet, or a history teacher as a backup plan” said Cundiff.  She has one cat right now named Baby, but wishes she owned more animals. After college, she plans on having a lot of animals. She loves any kind of animals, but her all-time favorite animals are cows, because they are sweet and lazy. She would really like to get more involved with animals so she signed up at the SPCA to volunteer and she can hardly wait.

She really has a passion for caring for animals and when she sees an animal in need, nothing stops her from caring for them. Taylor said, “One time I found a couple of baby rabbits that had been abandoned by their mom because a dog was messing with them and they were all scratched up so I put the rabbits in a box with towels and got special milk and fed them and helped them get better and when they were old enough we found a place to let them go.” Taylor is totally against animal cruelty and is disgusted when she hears about animals being neglected. She thinks every animal needs to be treated kindly and should be cared for. There is a festival in China where they abuse dogs and she explained how upsetting it is to know animals are neglected and abused everywhere for no reason, she doesn’t think it’s fair.

Taylor works at Buffalo Wild Wings while attending Hidden Valley High School as a junior. She shared her thoughts on school by saying, “I enjoy learning but I don’t like school because of how early I have to wake up. If school started around 9, I would be alright.” Taylor has one older brother whose name is Damian. In her free time she enjoys shopping and spending time with friends. Her dream is to attend Virginia Tech to become a large animal Veterinarian. After college, she wants to go to large farms to take care of their animals. She says her future goals include having a huge house with a lot of land and a small farm. One of her favorite things to do is go to the zoo and feed the animals with the buckets of food. She says, “I could literally spend all day at a zoo.” She is sure her love for animals will never change and she cannot wait to see where this passion takes her in life. 

By Camryn Adams

Regan King

            Life for Regan King, age 16, took a drastic turn when she got a new younger sister one day. Regan’s older sister, Amber, decided that she wasn’t ready to take care of the child she already had and gave her up to her parents to take care of. Regan and her sisters Paige and Gabby had no idea how to deal with this life changing moment. “I think my sister needs to get her life together”, said King.

            Regan, living in Roanoke, VA at the time, had never been through an experience like this and was only beginning to understand how serious the situation was. Regan was working on getting a job and dealing with studies for school when this situation took place so it wasn’t only straining on her parents, but also very stressful for her in many ways. Lily, the new “sister” would have so many questions she would want answered, and Regan would have to share a room. There really wasn’t any chance of getting away from this situation for Regan. It was a difficult situation for everyone. “It makes me angry because Lily feels like she has been abandoned”, King added. Regan would also later add that her sister Amber had had a troublesome relationship with drugs and alcohol, along with guys who wouldn’t be the best role models for her. Her Parents had it rough too, not only getting a new “daughter” to take care of, but having to deal with Amber’s actions.

            The actions of Amber caused widespread family tension and emotions to grow out of control with her family. Regan knew that Amber wanted to come back and rightfully be Lily’s mom, but Regan wasn’t too sure that she had earned the right or trust of the family to do so. “They wish that she would make improvements, so she can come back and be a part of the family”, King said about Amber. Regan feels like that if Amber could get her life in order and calmed down that she could come back and be okay.

By Caleb Smith

Grace Landolt

Grace Landolt, age 7, went on vacation with her mom and dad to New York City during Black Friday to do some shopping. She had been feeling sick before she had even stepped on the plane, but her parents wanted to continue on with the trip. After a rough flight there, she left the airport feeling worse than before. “It was really busy and cold, and gross in New York city, because everyone was down there, and we were walking down the side of the street and I just threw up everywhere.”

Lucky for Grace, someone came to help. ”This lady was walking by, and she handed my dad a tissue.” The closest store to where she threw up was Macy’s. Unfortunately, it was Black Friday. So, Grace’s mother had to shove through a crowd of angry people to get to the bathroom. After cleaning up, Landolt decided she wanted to see “Santa.” On the way up the escalators, the hem of her jeans got caught in the track, and it began to pull her down. The staff had to shut down the escalator and pull her jeans out. Then, Landolt coated in grease, and stinking of vomit, hopped on Santa’s lap, and got everything she wished for.

“I went this summer to try and redeem my New York experience,” She says. Grace, age 15, lives at home with her Step dad and Mother. She has two step  sisters, Megan  and Molly. She’s lived in Roanoke her entire life. She works as a lifeguard in her free time over the summer, and swims on the high school swim team. Her main focus in life is swimming, and while she doesn’t know which college she wants to go to, she says that it must have a swim team. 

Joseph Preseren

Ever wonder what it’s like to ride a unicycle? Joseph Preseren, 16, born in Frederick Maryland, but now resides in Roanoke Virginia, took on the challenge of learning how to ride a unicycle. ”I saw this little kid at a summer camp that I went to who was like 7 or 8 years old on a unicycle, and I thought that I could probably do the same. So once I got back home I ordered one off of Amazon and started once I got it.”  Preseren stated.

When Preseren first started learning how to ride a unicycle he was only 14 years old. In the beginning he fell off many times, but he slowly started learning the basics, like going in a straight line. Finally, he has gotten so good at riding a unicycle that he can “ride up, down, and around his neighborhood which has a lot of hills” said Preseren. When talking with Preseren you can tell how much pride he takes in his ability to ride a unicycle. “I can ride backwards and I am currently learning how to ride in a circle.” Preseren told me that a unicycle doesn’t have brakes, so if you stop peddling then the wheels stop. If you want to stop and you are going fast, then you just have to jump off. Also, the rate that you are peddling is how fast or slow you are going.

Preseren shared a little bit about himself. He currently attends Hidden Valley High School and lives with his dad Joe Preseren. “I don’t really know if I would like to attend college, but I will go to college if I truly find something I want to do. If I don’t, then I plan to find success elsewhere.” said Preseren. He has a passion for music and making music. Currently he writes lyrics, but he just feels like people are overlooking him and his hidden talent. Preseren has many of friends, but his best friends are Chris Daniel and Alec Dalton. He plays basketball and he also works at Elm Park Estates, which is a senior living and retirement community, where he serves the residents and also busses the tables.

            Whatever Preseren decides to do with his life after high school whether he goes into college or finds success elsewhere, he will definitely have the determination to get the job done. Just like how he had the determination of learning how to ride a unicycle!

By: Leah Newton