For Your Information!

Hola Everyone!
Hope you are doing well where-ever you are. School started and, as many of you know, I was not working, waiting for GRPS to call me back. Unfortunatelly, there were no positions available for my certifications and therefore I had to start looking somewhere else.

I started working at a school called West Michigan Academy for Environmental Science. So far I'm teaching English to 9th graders and Spanish to Sophmores, JUniors and Seniors. I have students from different parts of the world (we have exchange students); Japan, China, Thailand, Brasil, Switzerland and Mexico. Many of them are learning English so I get to spend time teaching them English while working on teaching Spanish! Funny!

I'll be at SWCC on Friday to meet with Haley, TJ and Viangely. I can only wish I could see you all there. I'll bring my camera to take pictures and compare them to the ones from previous years!

I have been praying for you, hoping you are safe, doing well in school and just suffering enough from the heart to remind you that this is not it, the future awaits, and the possibilities are endless. I'll keep writing so that you know what's going on.

For those of you who are taking the Social Studies MEAP this year, good luck, remember to start your essays with a Question, quote, sound effect, name, fact, statistic or a description of a setting (that's the new one, but it goes under name!) Remember to say you have a position, you either agree or desagree with the point exposed.

For those of you taking the ACT, SAT this year, I'll be praying for you. For my Juniors! Hang in there, is only one more year!!!! I really want to think that all of you will graduate from High School. Dont forget to invite me to your graduation!

Much love!
Velez

For all my Puerto Rican students and friends

A friend of mine sent this to me, I thought I should share it with you. I hope you have a good "first day of class"

Why Puerto Ricans are so cool...


- We are a mix of the best of every race.

- Our legal drinking age is 18.

- We can't care less what other people think of us.

- We are not only bilingual but we can speak
"Spanglish"

- Our women are the most beautiful in the world,
(5 Miss Universe)

- We are LATIN, and yet AMERICANS

(Cool !!!)

- Mofongo (that's all I have to say)... MO-FON-GO
(Yum!)

- In PR, any road will take you to a beach..... or a pub.

- We are the only "territory" of another country
with our own Olympic teams; How crazy is that?

- We do everything under the sun... because we CAN!

- Because even though we are a territory we are still a whole NATION.

- We don't need to take vacations to be in a tropical paradise.

- In PR everything is really close.

- Our Spanish is completely different than any
other Spanish speaking country.

- We all have cool nicknames.

- We make some of the best coffee of the World.

- WE CAN DANCE!!!!!!!!! and we can make anyone dance!!! (with and without music).

- They come from around the world to hire our engineers and scientists.

- We are the country with the most roads by square
mile (and there is still traffic).

- We have the longest swimming pool in the world (Cerromar)

- La "Calle del Cristo" (San Juan P.R.) was the
first road of "The New World" to be paved.

- 86% of the rum drunk in the U.S. is from Puerto Rico.

- We have more female engineers than any other
country. (and you still call us machistas?)

- We know how to party, without absurd curfew laws.

- We are the major RUM manufacturer of the world.

- The bats for the Movie Batman Forever were filmed in Las Cuevas de Camuy, P.R.

- We invented the MayoKetchup!

- Puerto Rico has one of the world's highest productivity ratios.

- Salsa music was the fastest growing genre in the last 20 years.

- Four Puerto Ricans received the Congress Medal of Honor: Euripides

Rubio, Carlos Lozada, Hector Santiago y Fernando Luis Ledesma Garcia.

- Only 4 baseball players have 2 Home Runs in the same Inning; 3 of them
are Puerto Ricans (Roberto Clemente, Roberto Alomar and Carlos Baerga)

- Tito Trinidad never went to the Olympics but
defeated 4 gold medal champions.

- A Puerto Rican, Nellie Toledo, designed the 1984 Camaro Berlinetta.

- We were the 5th country in THE WORLD to have a radio station.

(before Washington D.C. )

- Junior Cordero (Puerto Rican) won the Kentucky Derby 3 times.

- There are only 7 fluorescent lagoons in the
world; we have 4 of them.

- Giovanni Hidalgo is considered the best percussionist in THE WORLD.

- Jose Feliciano is in the top 3 guitar players in
THE WORLD (don't forget he is blind).

- The Discovery 500; Solar car designed by the Colegio de Mayaguez, won 41
awards in Sunrayace, Iowa back in 1993.

- We established the first lottery system in the New World.

NOT BAD FOR A 100 X 35 MILES ISLAND...

I'm proud to be Puerto Rican!!!
and if you are Boricua...
Grita Weeeeeepppaaaa!!!

Bank Account!

I've been looking for a story that can be used to teach you a lesson for your first day at school. I think I found one I actually like. Let me know what do you think?

A 92-year-old, small-framed, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.

His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the
move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual
description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

'I love it,' he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having
just been presented with a new puppy.

'Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait.'

'That doesn't have anything to do with it,' he
replied.

'Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. 'It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the
bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.' Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3 Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Drug Test for Welfare Checks?

Ok, this has nothing to do with Olivia, I just love this picture and it goes well with the topic because some people dont like to talk about this:

In a small town Wallis, in Texas, there is a sign that is upseting people and is motivating others. One of the signs says:"we pass a drug test for our pay checks, what about welfare checks?". And people, I'm up for that.

I say, if you are getting a welfare check on your name or on your child's name, you need to get a drug test done every six months. In my years teaching I've seen parents who do not have money to give to their children for food or to go on a fieldtrip or to cooperate for somethign at school. I've even met parents who are struggling to pay their rent and others that have been evicted from their home because they dont have money to pay for their rent. But when you meet the parent you see that he/she buys the kid or him/herself a brand new pair of Nikes, or a "gold" watch, or a "diamond" earing. I've seen parents with different cellphones, mp3 players...

But I might be wrong.. what do you think?

This is you Reading Time Online!

This is the fun part of our Reading Time online. I will tell you what's up and make fun of it! How's that?

Javier ('05), Tyler (06) and TJ (07), this is from YOUR President.

Doctors remove 5 polyps from Bush's colon

Now, Why in the world would I need to know that? For a few years now I've had this mental picture of him doing nothing around the White House, now my mental picture is worst, him seating in a little pillow, doing nothing around the White House!!!

The article continues saying "The polyps were removed and sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for routine microscopic examination, spokesman Scott Stanzel said. Results are expected in two to three days."

What??? I wont be able to know the results sooner?????? How can you do this to me? No!!!!!!!!

Ok, if you want more info on this topic, you can click on this link and enjoy!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/21/bush.colonoscopy/index.html

Stop socializing! Or... Not!

Before I start, allow me to remind you that you can LEAVE MESSAGES here by clicking on the "COMMNETS" icon at the end of each entry (letter or story). I would love to read what you have to say. Ok, now here it is:

I'm not sure how many of you remember this phrase (the title). It was back in 2006, I would say it was April, and the drums guy confused me with a student, go figure! Anyway, maybe it was my fault, I was talking to different groups around me in an effort to direct your attention to him and not to your friends. At the end I was the one who got yelled!

I bet some of you are thinking, "ok Velez, where are you going with this?" Not too far. Last week I spoke with a few of you from "few years ago". I was surprised to hear that many of you are not friends anymore (well, not really surprised, because it always happens, but dissapointed). For those of you who just met, its not shooking to hear you are no longer friends. Its actually pretty normal. But please, some of you have been together since you were in elementary, that is a true friendship.

Are you "socializing" with the right people? I hope you are because hanging out with the "right" people will help you to get to the "right" place. Ask yourself; Am I hanging out with people who are helping me to be a better person? If your answer is yes, then, go in peace, you have my blessing.

Much love!

God is God

Since the day I graduated my first class back in 2005, every time I see or read the news I always pray that I dont see your name in one of the articles, of course, unless the article reads "teen wins a writing contest" or "teen helps homeless ...".

These past few weeks, the news have been filled with stories about teenagers dying in car accidents, the type of accidents that could've been avoided. Then last week, I read a specific one that caught my eye but, there were no names so I went on with my life as usual. Until I got a call.

The voice on the other side was Haley, telling me that one of the kids in the accident was TJ, our TJ Perez. I tell you, my heart went down my feet, and I felt I was going to faint, then she said to me "let me put TJ on the phone". He may not know this but, I have no recolection of what he said to me, I was in tears. I actually had to call Haley again, to make sure he was ok.

That night I went back home (I was at GVSU when I received the call) and while I was reading the article again (the one about the accident) I shared the story with my husband. "God is God" he said. Out of 5 kids in the car, the driver, the only one who was wearing a seatbelt, died. TJ was right next to her, and, beside some scratches, he was ok. "God has a purpose for TJ, I'm sure" my husband said to me. And I believe it is true.

To all of you out there, take care of yourselves, be wise when it comes to get a ride with a person without a license, even with one, it takes some time to become wise on the road. Not all of us are Victor!

Anyway, I'm glad TJ is ok, but I know his heart is still bledding from the pain (the girl, Claudia, was actually his new girlfriend, that can leave a scar in your heart). Join me in this prayer for him. As for the rest of you... try to behave!
Much love

Because I miss you a lot...

Summer is almost done and now I'm getting nightmares; I see myself going into a classroom and only a few of you are there. I see myself yelling at you "why are here again?" "you're suppose to be in high school!!!".

Then I wake up and I soon realize that, if I see you again in my classroom, I could not possibly yell at you, well, I might, but it will be with much love. Here is a space I decided to create so that you know what's going on with me and for you to leave messages to me and to your friends.

Every week I'll write a little message for you, I'll leave some questionares for you to answer, and I will also include a few pictures of some of you.

Please remember that, even if you feel no one likes you, or thinks about you, every night I pray for you. I know, from the bottom of my heart, that God has a purpose for each of you. If you are still here in this world, it means your purpose has not yet arrived. Maybe He's still preparing you for it.

Much love!