Immersion Trip To NorwayThis summer, Amanda O'Reilly, of Middlefield, and 15 other teenagers participated in an international 4-H immersion trip to Norway. Students from Idaho,…
Immersion Trip To Norway
This summer, Amanda O’Reilly, of Middlefield, and 15 other teenagers participated in an international 4-H immersion trip to Norway. Students from Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, Oslo, Kansas and Wisconsin, joined Amanda on the trip.
Amanda’s trek to her host family involved a small prop plane and ferry ride across a fjord. The family consisted of parents and three daughters who live on a sheep farm set in a beautiful mountain pasture.
She stayed with them for three weeks and did everything they did. The warm summer weather, temperatures provided ample opportunity for Amanda to not only assist with chores, but to go hiking and enjoy the outdoors.
One of the objectives of the trip was for the students to cook typical meals that their families in America ate and share them with their host family. Amanda made an apple pie that everyone loved even though they don’t cook apples in Norway. She also made French toast and bread with a fried egg in the middle, yet she found the maple syrup needed for the French toast was prohibitively expensive.
Toward the end of the stay, she and 1,000 other students from all over Norway attended a giant 4-H Camp on Tautra, a majestic Norwegian island situated in a fjord. Different groups were instructed to create a project focusing on their ability to communicate with each other. They also had fun playing volleyball and Norwegian card games. During her time on the island, Amanda saw her first puffin.
Amanda was surprised that she didn’t feel much homesickness and credits her time at NDCL with teaching her that confidence to communicate with others far from the comforts of home.
Internship Inspires Senior
Senior Shante’ Harding’s time at NDCL has been filled with many adventures. Whether she is playing basketball, running track or participating as a member of the Link Crew program, she is always interested in pursuing new and diverse opportunities in her life.
This summer, Shante’ attended the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Summer Legal Academy. Now in its 10th year, the program takes place in downtown Cleveland and is coordinated by a collaboration including the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Norman S. Minor Bar Association, Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
The goal of the internship is to introduce promising African-American high school students from both Cleveland inner city and suburban schools to different aspects of the legal profession, since they are woefully underrepresented in the court system.
Approximately 20 to 25 seniors, who were nominated for the opportunity, participated in a full day internship June 16-27. Under the supervision of lawyers and judges, the students went through all parts of a court trial, from the initial discovery and interview phase, to the development of the case’s prosecution and defense. All of their work eventually led to a mock trial.
Shante’ loved all the different facets of constructing a case that would be strong enough to eventually come to trial. Throughout each day, she did various tasks such as finding case numbers, researching dockets and reading about issues relevant to her case.
She worked in the prosecutor’s office, a job she preferred over working for the defense, and felt the program certainly left her with a renewed compassion for others.
“The problems of domestic violence, especially in Cleveland, really opened my eyes,” Shante said. “It is such a serious problem.”
The internship inspired her so profoundly that she wants to make law her career.
She commented that she’d “like to work on the prosecution side, maybe even in corporate law.”
As she anticipates heading to Howard University in Washington, D.C., after graduation, Shante’ is glad she used her summer wisely because it was a fantastic experience that changed her life.
Cookout Welcomes Freshmen
On a perfect summer evening Aug. 8, more than 350 incoming freshmen and their families enjoyed a welcome cookout and social at school. Student and parent ambassadors were on hand to greet the new students and their families.
The cookout preceded the annual back-to-school dance in NDCL’s courtyard. Guests were treated not only to a tasty burger cookout, orientation of the school and cornhole games, but this year’s first fall semester performance of the NDCL marching band.
Adam Pysell, band director, said that he practiced hard with the band students for two weeks this summer. The hard work and dedication were evident in the quality of the performance. The band was joined by the color guard and both group’s talents added to the festive atmosphere.
For more information on NDCL, visit www.ndcl.org.
For more information on the school band, call Adam Pysell at 440-286-6226, ext. 1440.
