Accomplished foreign exchange students attending local high schools

Posted on September 12, 2012 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
Cabarrus News
September 2012

A new school year brings new opportunities.

Here are most of the international students attending local high school’s this year. (Samuel Perelzweig is pictured on the bottom far-left, Giorgio Chessa is bottom far-right, Emil Houlind is top-left of center and Mari Mezquita is on the steps, second from top-far right.)

Here are most of the international students attending local high school’s this year. (Samuel Perelzweig is pictured on the bottom far-left, Giorgio Chessa is bottom far-right, Emil Houlind is top-left of center and Mari Mezquita is on the steps, second from top-far right.)

Giorgio Chessa, a 16-year-old senior attending Statesville High School said, “It’s all about being open to experiencing life as its happening.”

Chessa is a foreign exchange student from Italy who is residing with Mr. and Mrs. Mills and their four children in Statesville, NC. He has been playing soccer professionally since he was 14 years old and will play for the Statesville Greyhounds this year. This is his first time in the U.S. and he said that it has been the best experience of his life so far.

Chessa is a part of the EF Foundation for Foreign Study, which is a non-profit organization that places approximately 3,000 international students per year in U.S. homes and schools.

Teri Kirkpatrick, whom is the local EF Foundation coordinator for the Charlotte area, said that 24 international students are attending local schools this year.

The students arrived in the Charlotte area at the beginning of August, so they could settle in with their host families before the school year began. On Saturday, September 8, 2012, the EF Foundation hosted a welcome party for all international high school students in the area at Aw Shucks Farm in Monroe, NC.

Samuel Perelzweig, a 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Germany who attended the welcome event said that this was his third year of studying abroad, having studied previously in China and France. Perelzweig is living with Brian and Christina Westveer and their 16-year-old son, Justin Westveer and attending Cox Mill High School in Concord, NC.

Perelzweig is also professional golfer. He won the Russian Open in 2010. He said that he has been playing for the Russian national team for four years and will play for Cox Mill High School this year.

Perelzweig said that he looks forward to learning more about American History and wants to research potential U.S. colleges. He wants to study sports medicine.

Emil Houlind, a 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Denmark said, “I came to the U.S. to experience the life of an everyday American.” He also said that he wanted to see if American high school was the same as it is dramatized in many U.S. movies.

Houlind is staying with Suzanne and Mike Harrington and their three children while attending Marvin Ridge High School in Waxhaw, NC.

He is interested in becoming an actor and is taking theater courses at Marvin Ridge High School. He looks forward to volunteering as a production assistant at Theatre Charlotte on September 12- 13, 2012 for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

Back home, Houlind is known for his award-winning professional snowboarding career. He has been snowboarding since he was 5 years old, professionally since 2009. In 2012, Houlind won the gold medal for Boardercross and the bronze for Big Air in the Danish Nationals Championships held in Norway.

These foreign exchange students, as well as others representing the EF Foundation in the Charlotte area will be volunteering at the International Festival at UNC-Charlotte on Saturday, September 29, 2012. The international festival will be held on campus at UNC-Charlotte from 10am- 6pm inside and outside of the James H. Barnhardt Student Activity Center. The festival represents the cultures of 50 nations, where international students and community members come together to present their countries lifestyle through arts, crafts, costumes, dance and food. This is a free family-friendly event that is open to public and boasts previous crowds of 10,000 in attendance.

Mari Mezquita, a 17-year-old foreign exchange student from Spain said, “I love to move around, experience other cultures and be exposed to different parts of the world.” Mezquita, who is living with Dan and Michelle Bechler and attending Providence High School in South Charlotte, also said that she hopes to make the U.S. her home. She has already applied to MIT and plans to study biochemistry.

For more information on the International Festival at UNC-Charlotte, please call (704) 687-7781. Or for more information about hosting a foreign exchange student, email Teri Kirkpatrick at teri.kirkpatrick@effoundation.org.

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Susan Trexler Myers, Local Birth Instructor

Posted on June 12, 2012 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
Cabarrus News
June 2012

SusanMyers-BradleyBirthInstructorSusan Trexler Myers knows all about birthing babies.

Myers, a mother of four, has been helping parents bring their babies into the world using the Bradley Method for almost 13 years. She’s taught 350 couples, including 50 last year. She also had all four of her children using the Bradley Method, taking the course with her husband, Wesley Myers, during her first and second pregnancy in 1996 and again in 1997.

Myers, who was referred to the Bradley Method by a co-worker even before she was pregnant, was very interested in having control over her birthing experience. She also said, “I felt like if women had been having babies for over hundreds of years without medical intervention and pain medication, then I should be able to do it too. This is what our bodies were designed to do.”

The Bradley Method named after its creator Robert A. Bradley, MD is an unmedicated, natural birthing process where the husband or laboring woman’s partner is primed to coach her through the mental, physical, and emotional stages of labor.

Myers, a 43-year-old Concord resident, said the associated 12-week course is geared to give couples time to learn about common medical practices, birth team planning, relaxation techniques, and pregnancy nutrition. Myers also said, “We focus more than others (other birthing methods/courses) on the stages of labor and how to deal with it, and how to be an educated consumer of medical practices.”

The Bradley Method is similar to Lamaze, according to Myers, as it is natural childbirth-oriented and she often refers clients to Lamaze when her class fills up. However, Bradley focuses more on introspective techniques; whereas, Lamaze is known for taking the laboring woman’s focal point outside of the body. For example, Myers said, Bradley focuses on learning to relax your muscles and to go with the flow during contractions, where Lamaze would have you focus on a photo, a spot on the wall, or anything outside of the body to concentrate on during contractions.

In order to teach the Bradley Method, the instructor has to become certified by taking teacher training through the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth, which includes continual education.

Myers became certified in 2000 and has been offering classes to expectant parents in the Charlotte area ever since. She teaches four 12-week courses a year near Concord Mills, off Pitts School Road.

Evelyn Keating, a former student of Myers’ who gave birth to Finn Keating at Presbyterian-Huntersville on October 9, 2011, said, “ The Bradley Birthing Method is all about husbands as coaches during labor and delivery, and so in classes the husbands/coaches learned different techniques to help relax their wives. During my 20-hour labor, my husband used many of those techniques, including massage.”

Jessica Stafford, also a former student of Myers’ and resident of Blakeney in South Charlotte said, “We wanted to be educated and as prepared as possible, so we’d know how to react and respond during labor. As a first time mom, I wanted to gain confidence in myself as a birther, and I wanted Adam (her husband) to be confident with himself as my support person, or childbirth coach.”

Jessica Stafford gave birth to Cameron Clare Stafford at CMC-Pineville on September 25, 2011.

Stafford said, “We had an almost perfect hospital birth and I attribute it to the knowledge and information we learned during the classes. If we hadn’t taken the classes, we may not have known all we do now, and I may have given in to the doctors and nurses when they suggested things to speed labor up; but instead, we were able to work through it naturally, and get the drug-free birth we wanted.”

Also discussing the course, Keating said, “The class was great and Susan was so knowledgeable and encouraging. Every week we left the class feeling more and more prepared … Susan is passionate about helping people have the best, healthiest birthing experience possible.”

Myers said, “I truly believe, barring complication, that any women can deliver without medication. We all have that innate strength and physiology.”

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To find peace, first throw out your clutter

Posted on March 7, 2012 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
South Charlotte News
Wednesday, March 07, 2012

To Julie Tringali, simplifying life means getting things out of your life to free up energy and time for the things that matter most.

This 32-year-old mom of four girls understands how quickly chaos can take over.

Tringali said she’d always been the type of person who appreciates organization, but she never knew how to do it well.

Until a pivotal moment in her life.

She recalls a chaotic day in 2007 when she was busy nursing her second daughter, Ava, a newborn at the time, while trying to make a healthy dinner. Her eldest, Morgan, now 7, ran up to her and kept pulling on her trying to get her attention.

Tringali, a resident of Hickory Grove Road, said she remembers thinking, “I am over it. This is not a sustainable lifestyle. I cannot live in chaos from moment to moment. It’s time to simplify my life and bring peace back into my home.”

Tringali said she started by going from room to room and purging everything that was not helpful or beautiful, donating about 30 percent of their stuff that was just taking up space.

“It made my home feel resourceful, clean and peaceful,” Tingali said.

Now Tringali not only kept the promise she made to herself in 2007 to live simply, she also writes a blog called “Simplify Your Life” (organizesimply.blogspot.com) that gives organizational advice to help others live a simplified life.

In summer 2010, Tringali’s passion for organization turned into a business opportunity. Her first client was a friend, Virginia Spykerman of Dilworth, whom she helped de-clutter and organize her loft and attic.

Tringali said the most popular room people want help organizing is the kitchen.

Since becoming a professional organizer, one of her most profound moments was working with a hoarder. The client wasn’t ready to give up all her stuff, but Tringali was able to talk with her and help her realize she was hoarding to fill a void in her emotional needs.

The client was able to accept this and worked on the emotional barriers. Tringali felt honored to be part of this process.

Tringali suggests these basic steps to simplify you life:

1. Evaluate your room. Take a step back and think about what is stressful about the room. Is it the untidiness, the décor or just too much stuff?

2. Prioritize by what’s most important. Decide which room/area to tackle first and create a list numbered from highest to lowest priority.

3. Set small goals. For example, within one week complete a room by decluttering on Monday, dropping off donated goods on Tuesday, measuring the space/shelves for organizational bins on Wednesday, searching for bins on Thursday and putting the finishing touches on the room Friday.

4. Once the decluttering begins, take everything out and re-assess each piece. Tringali adds that sometimes it’s hard to let go of a gift from a loved one, even if it’s just taking up space. It’s important to remember, the relationship isn’t being thrown away just because the object isn’t in the home anymore.

5. Maintain the organization. Tringali said 80 percent of organization is maintenance.

Tringali’s biggest piece of advice: “Our culture thrives on get it, buy it, want it, and need it. Do you really need it? Do you really love it? Even if it’s not useful? If you have an organized home but it’s full of clutter, then it still won’t give you peace.”

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Whittington: A man of integrity

Posted on February 27, 2012 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
Cabarrus News
Sunday, February 26, 2012

Donnie Whittington died Feb. 15, but his legacy lives on through the many lives he has touched during his 55 years working at the Boys & Girls Club of Cabarrus County.

Whittington, who retired as the club’s athletic director in 2009, began his 65-year relationship with the club in 1946, when he became a member at age 5. According to Valerie Melton, the club’s executive director, Whittington started working part time for the club when he was 14, in 1955.

By 1961, Whittington, then 20, began coaching 6-, 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds in the club’s much-respected youth football program. E.Z. Smith III, retired head football coach for Concord High School, said he was one of the 35 boys on Whittington’s first official football team.

Smith, a 58-year-old Concord resident, said of Whittington’s death, “I’ve lost one of my heroes.”

At age 6, Smith said, he weighed more than 100 pounds. But unlike other adults and children, Whittington never belittled him or made him feel incapable of succeeding because of his size.

“It was never about race, color or creed with Donnie,” he said. “He treated everyone with respect.”

Smith went on to play football for Concord Middle and Concord High School. He graduated in 1972 with a football scholarship to play for the University of South Carolina. All along, Whittington came to every middle and high school game Smith played in. He even attended some of his games at USC-Columbia.

Whittington did that for all his old players, Smith said: “He was a big part of everyone’s life.”

When Smith was named head coach of the Concord Spiders in 1980, Whittington was one of the first people to call and congratulate him. He credits Whittington with teaching him the intrinsic values of coaching: sportsmanship, leadership and playing hard.

“The impact was not just athletics, though,” Smith said. “It was lifelong values.”

Joe Habina, director of operations at the club, said he worked with Whittington for 10 years, 1999-2009. His fondest memories of Whittington are of the times they would take young club members on sports-related field trips together, especially the Charlotte Knights game about four years ago when Habina caught his first professional foul ball.

“Donnie was one of my baseball buddies,” Habina said. He said they would often just sit and talk about sports and the good old days, when kids played sports just because they enjoyed playing them. “I simply enjoyed his company.”

As did many, Melton said.

Melton said she will miss him most on Pancake Day, the club’s annual fundraiser, which is coming up on March 15. The event annually attracts about 5,000 people for pancakes, sausage and drinks. When her anxieties built on Pancake Day, Whittington always helped her remain calm. He was also an integral part of the fundraiser, she said. “It just won’t be the same without him.”

Melton said club leaders plan to set up a memorial display for Whittington on Pancake Day. He was also named a lifetime honorary board member, and a basketball court was named after him Feb. 13, just two days before he died.

His memorial service was Feb. 18 in the club’s gym, provided by Wilkinson Funeral Home. Plaques were given to Whittington’s wife, Lannie Tucker Whittington, and his daughter, Kimberly Whittington.

Whittington was 70 when he died of cancer in his home after deciding not to receive further treatments. On Feb. 11, five days before his death, he had asked E.Z. Smith to officiate his eulogy.

Smith said it was a day of celebration. “The emphasis was the impact that he had on thousands of young men and women, and the parents of those children in the community.”

Melton said Whittington’s legacy will also live on in his last request. “He wanted to make sure that every kid can take part in their programs through scholarships,” she said. “He told me (that) when he was gone … he didn’t want a bunch of flowers; he wanted scholarships for kids to play football.”

Melton said his philosophies in life – to treat everybody with respect, treat everyone equally and give everyone a chance to participate – are truly expressed in that last request.

As for Whittington’s effect on kids, she said, “Before you even knew to call it ‘being a mentor,’ he was one.”

But what’s most important, both Smith and Melton agreed, is that he will always be known as “Coach.”

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Now is the time to plan spring, summer garden

Posted on February 27, 2012 by crystalogormanwrites

The Charlotte Observer
South Charlotte News
Saturday, February 26, 2012

Don Rosenberg, owner of Instant Organic Garden, said, “Although you still have time to plant a spring garden, the time to start planning your summer crops is now.”

According to Rosenberg, April 15 is the approximate planting day for summer gardens – usually after the last frost date.

Here are some tips he has provided on transitioning from spring to summer beds, which plants work best for small gardens, and the basics of pest control and prevention.

When using raised beds – as Rosenberg advocates for busy families with limited space and time for gardening – consolidate space by using the same beds for spring and summer gardening.

Not only does it save space, but it also improves the quality of your soil by continually using it, said Rosenberg, an organic gardening expert with more than 25 years of experience.

“You simply make room to plant the summer seeds, while gradually harvesting the spring crops,” he said. Remove plants that are “bolting” – sending up flowering stalks – or wilting, and plant seeds and transplants there, he said.

Rosenberg, a Charlotte resident since 1981, describes spring plants as a “giant salad bowl,” giving examples including lettuce, spinach, arugula, radishes and beets, whereas summer plants are tropical plants, like cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, eggplants and squash, he said.

When choosing vegetables, Rosenberg suggested thinking of your garden as “the ‘American Idol’ for vegetables.”

“You have your favorites, the regulars and the new contestants. If one of the new ones doesn’t perform well, vote them off and try something new next season,” he said.

Rosenberg suggests those planting in small beds shouldn’t plant big crops, like watermelon, pumpkin, cantaloupe, corn or okra. These plants take up too much space and don’t provide as much crop per dollar. He compares tomatoes and corn to prove his point.

“A 3-foot-by-8-foot bed might grow 20 ears of corn, worth $10 at the grocery store. Just two square feet used for growing a single tomato plant might grow 50 tomatoes, which is worth about $100,” Rosenberg said.

As for pest control, Rosenberg said, the best way to keep a garden bug-free is to grow healthy plants, using good, well-drained soil and organic fertilizers.

He also suggests that if you do have a bug problem, don’t eradicate all the bugs: define your solution based on the specific problematic bug and the crop it’s harming – doing so in the least harmful way, with all-natural remedies.

If you’re interested in learning more about Rosenberg’s gardening methodology, visit his website: www. instant organic garden .com .

He also has written a book titled “No Green Thumb Required!” that explains the basics of growing an organic garden with raised beds. It’s available on his website and through Amazon’s Kindle store. He also is working on an organic gardener’s cookbook, and he teaches classes on gardening basics at Central Piedmont Community College and Saint Gabriel Catholic Church.

Rosenberg will be answering gardening questions at his business booth at the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show from Feb. 29-March 4. He also will be participating in two panel discussions at the show about the value of nutrition, as well as two more presentations on gardening basics and maximizing productivity.

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