The Road to Perseverance
by: Mari Pilling
Perseverance
Getting Though the Hate
The First Lady
In Eleanor's’ life, she has been through many adversities. She has had to work through the sadness of losing 3 family members in an 18 month span. She lost her mother first, she died of becoming severely ill. Next her brother died of catching diphtheria. Then after the two tragic deaths in her family, her father, most loving and caring of her, died of alcoholism. After more than half of her family died, Eleanor and her last younger brother moved and lived at her grandmother’s house. Her grandma was very strict and disciplined them very well. After a few years, when eleanor turned 15, her grandmother sent her to boarding school. At school, she tried out for the school team of field hockey, she made it. When she was on the team she had many friends, but before that, when she was younger, she never had any friends, she was either to scared to make new friends or people thought she was too weird. After school, she married her third cousin, Theodore Roosevelt. They had six kids, but unfortunately, one had died. For the next few years everything was going smoothly, Theodore had been elected president, she was now a member of WTUL. But then, Theodore had become sick, he had gotten polio. He ended up getting better but losing mobility below his hips. The next few years she had been a beacon of hope. She volunteered for the Red Cross, and she donated most of her money to many charities.
Persevering through the loses
In Carroll County, Tennessee there is a school to help get teenagers back on track. The country is 19.6% below the poverty line. Many of the girls were either kicked out of their school or were sent to the academy under state law. The school is the same thing, they have school hours from 8:00-3:00 and they do the same academic courses, from E.L.A to Math. The school helps with many of the girls. Many of them suffer from some sort of mental illness or they have problems with their home life. Carroll Academy helps they cope with problems by getting them to play Basketball. sadly The Lady Jags have only won’t 6 games in the last 14 years, and in that time they have lost 212 times. But, for them it doesn’t matter who wins or loses. It only mattered that they tried and persevered throughout the game. The school uses this technique to help them with issues by taking the hardship on the court and applying it to real life situations. Then after the Basketball season is done, or they kids have gotten back on track, they would be sent back to their regular high school where they can graduate on time. Perseverance, that all you need to get through your life.