Georgetown University medical students recently held their yearly religious service, to say thank you to anatomical donors.
Each year, 19,000 medical students in the United States dissect cadavers as part of their introduction to medicine. It is one of the most sensitive rites of becoming a doctor because it is the students’ first encounter with death.
Each year their schools hold some type of memorial service at the end of the year to honor donors.
At the George Washington University medical school, family members spoke, and students sang and performed original dance. The service ended with a release of butterflies.
Just in time for Memorial Day, Tim McGraw is giving away a mortgage-free house to wounded or needy service members for each stop on his upcoming “Brothers of the Sun.” .
Kick-starting his new partnership with Chase, the charity Operation Homefront, and the USO, the country music superstar will perform a special Memorial Day concert for service members at New York City’s Beacon Theatre during Fleet Week.
McGraw has a long history and deep interest in supporting veterans and military families and wanted to find another way to give back to them.
“My sister’s a veteran of the first Gulf War. My uncle was a Vietnam veteran and my grandfather was a World War II veteran,” says McGraw. “Being able to reward the troops for their dedicated work with a new home will be even more rewarding for us. It feels so good to give back to them.”
Additionally, both the charitable arm of the Academy of Country Music, and the North Carolina Furniture Manufacturers have made substantial contributions to support the program throughout the summer.
On June 2 in Tampa, along with Kenny Chesney through August, McGraw will perform for what is anticipated to be the biggest stadium tour in the history of country music.
Since 2002, thousands of volunteers for Operation Homefront have met more than 590,000 needs for military families.
Some real-life heroes at Marvel Comics created a hearing-aid-wearing superhero comic book in honor of hearing impaired little boy who didn’t want to wear his own device any more.
The creation of the new character began when Anthony Smith’s mother wrote to Marvel after her son told her he didn’t want to wear his blue hearing aid to school.
Some real-life heroes at Marvel Comics created a hearing-aid-wearing superhero comic book in honor of hearing impaired little boy who didn’t want to wear his own device any more.
The creation of the new character began when Anthony Smith’s mother wrote to Marvel after her son told her he didn’t want to wear his blue hearing aid to school.
Australia’s Festival of Lights is transforming Sydney’s famous landmarks using wild imagination and cutting edge 3-D projectors beaming images from a distance.
The evening lit “sails” of the iconic Opera House overlooking the harbor suddenly appeared to break out in cracks and holes, and flutter in the wind. As a finale, its surface peels back as if skin, a hand punches through it, and finally a giant woman stretches out across the surface appearing to tip toe across.
Australia’s Festival of Lights is transforming Sydney’s famous landmarks using wild imagination and cutting edge 3-D projectors beaming images from a distance.
The evening lit “sails” of the iconic Opera House overlooking the harbor suddenly appeared to break out in cracks and holes, and flutter in the wind. As a finale, its surface peels back as if skin, a hand punches through it, and finally a giant woman stretches out across the surface appearing to tip toe across.
Older passengers will no longer have to go through the tedious TSA shoe ritual at airports this summer.
The Transportation Safety Administration is exempting passengers 75 years and older from removing shoes, belts and coats at airport screening stations at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark this weekend and will roll out the new rules at all airports this summer.
A new breakthrough that provides early detection for the most lethal form of cancer was created by a 15-year-old Maryland teen, after his mom drove him to Johns Hopkins University every night after school to test his theory in a lab.
Jack Andraka, of Crownsville won the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his new method to detect pancreatic cancer. The test also detects ovarian and lung cancer.
Based on diabetic test paper, Jack created a simple dip-stick sensor to test blood or urine to determine whether or not a patient has early-stage pancreatic cancer. His study resulted in over 90 percent accuracy and showed his patent-pending sensor to be 28 times faster, 28 times less expensive and over 100 times more sensitive than current tests.
Jack, who was awarded $75,000, said the inspiration came from an uncle who died of the disease.
A new breakthrough that provides early detection for the most lethal form of cancer was created by a 15-year-old Maryland teen, after his mom drove him to Johns Hopkins University every night after school to test his theory in a lab.
Jack Andraka, of Crownsville won the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his new method to detect pancreatic cancer. The test also detects ovarian and lung cancer.
You’ve probably had the experience of “catching” someone’s good mood. Happiness can be contagious. Sometimes it’s passed along through simple gestures – a warm smile from a stranger; someone holds a door for you; another driver lets you in. It feels great to be on the receiving end of another person’s good spirits. These brief interchanges between one or more people are tiny portraits of a massive canvas that spans the globe. Every day, too, your life touches other species and the natural environment. These encounters leave a footprint in the world. Sometimes we’re contributing to happiness and wellbeing, and sometimes (often unwittingly) we are not.
No relative or friend proved to be a suitable donor match for Michael Andrade’s mom. Weeks dragged on, with Lucy on a waiting list, while her condition grew visibly worse. “I was just skin and bones,” she says.
Michael, the youngest of her four children, decided they needed to cast a wider net.
Under the headline “Please help us find a liver donor,” he added a grainy photo of himself as a boy on his mom’s lap and wrote a detailed appeal on a Tumblr blog post.
“I’m just really worried, and I don’t want to lose my mother, especially without me trying everything I can do to save her. The least I can do is spread the word and try to find a donor for her,” he wrote. Hundreds of readers spread the word, reblogging it on their own sites.
Meanwhile, after no one could help Graeme McNaughton’s cousin, who died of ovarian cancer when she was just 16, he vowed that if an opportunity came up to help save someone from the same grief, he would want to do something.
Michael’s digital prayer was about to be answered.
An Israeli who rescued a distressed climber on Mount Everest instead of pushing onward to the summit said Friday that the man he helped, an American of Turkish origin, is like a brother to him.
The friendship stands in contrast to the political tension between Turkey and Israel, which were once firm allies.
Four climbers died on their way down from the summit as the weather deteriorated.
Scott Shaver and Katie Buell were crowned prom king and queen last week at Westview High School. Sound typical? Yes, but Westview is not your typical high school.
Sure, Katie is an all-American girl, class president, champion in girls basketball, and “an absolute sweetheart,” according to her teachers. Yet, it seems every student, no matter their ability, is accepted here and treasured.
“Scotty”, as the kids call him, is a HUGE personality at the school, brought out of his shell over four years by the nurturing attention given, not only by specialized staff who have tutored him as a special needs student with autism, but by the accepting student body.
When he first came to the San Diego area school, he was petrified of the chaotic sounds of 2300 kids in an assembly. Now, he attends all the sporting events cheering loudly in the bleachers. When the football team scores a touchdown, he gets the giant “W” flag and runs up and down the sidelines.
When he first came to the school, his mother said, he could never have believed he would be dancing in front of the entire school to the pulsing beat of “We Are Family”. But after just one year, his success at school — mainly, said his mother, Marlene, due to all the “regular ed” kids practicing inclusion — Scotty was able to join the Westview dance group in their twice-yearly choreographed “Friendship Dance”, which includes the special needs kids each paired with a team regular. For three years now, he has been taking a bow at every performance while flexing his muscles in the air with wild enthusiasm. (See the video below).
Marlene also credit the “Best Buddies” program that matches a special needs kid with a regularly-enrolled student to be partners in friendship throughout the school year. It’s one of the most popular clubs on at Westview.
This spring, when the senior class prepared to nominate boys for prom king, they put Scotty on the ballot. “Not as a joke,” said Scott Wild, a teacher and student advisor at the school, “but as a sincere tribute to him because they love him, respect him, and appreciate him.”
Mr. Wild said there were 4 other boys who were also selected to be on the ballot- – all good athletes, students, and high character kids. “They found out about Scott being on the ballot, and collectively took their names off because they wanted Scotty to win – to have his moment in the sun.”
No one knew the outcome last Saturday, when students assembled in their rented tuxedos and hand-picked dresses. Scott’s mom and older brother Kyle, a graduate of Westview, were there, too. Scotty’s “Best Buddie” was delighted to be his date for the evening. At 10 o’clock, the faculty announced the prom court winners, saving the king for last.
”When we called Scotty’s name, the entire venue packed with 800 kids started chanting his name,” recalled Mr. Wild with tears in his eyes. “He went up on stage, a big smile gleaming across his face, celebrating the moment and feeling like he was on top of the world.”
This is not normal high school stuff. With the release of the documentary, Bully, people are all too aware of the dark side for many teens. Westview should have been making their own documentary. As one educator said, “There’s a reason why everybody tries to get hired in the Poway School District, this is one of them.
Scott’s “HUGE” personality “is over the top”, says his mom, because everyone at Westview accepted him and loved him.
“We could only hope, and wish, that every special needs child in every school was truly nurtured to their highest potential the same way Scott has been nurtured at Westview.”
Mother of the prom queen, Susie Buell agrees. She wrote in an email: “Once again, we feel overcome with the emotion of how fortunate and grateful (we are) to have had all our children attend school in this district. Working in Special Ed at the elementary level, I personally know how dedicated some of the Poway Special Ed team works and their tireless commitment to their students. It is incredible!”
“Katie was so honored to share that moment with him and so proud and happy for him. It was the highlight of the her night,” she added. “She really loves him.”
The teachers and administrators at the school will very much miss Scott when he says goodbye in 2 weeks. He cheerfully helped out in the office over the years and “people couldn’t help but love him”.
Kathy, who works in his critical skills classroom told her spouse, “On Monday morning, when the doors to his bus opened it looked like a bull busting out of a rodeo gate with Scotty yelling, “MISS KATHY, MISS KATHY, I am the SUPER SENIOR POWER PROM KING!”
Mr. Wild summed it up best: “For as much as Westview High gives him, Scott Shaver has no idea how much of a gift he is to us.”
Watch the video of Scott (the tall one) dancing at an assembly in 2010
Scott Shaver and Katie Buell were crowned prom king and queen last week at Westview High School. Sound typical? Yes, but Westview is not your typical high school.
Sure, Katie is an all-American girl, class president, champion in girls basketball, and “an absolute sweetheart,” according to her teachers. Yet, it seems every student, no matter their ability, is accepted here and treasured.
“Scotty”, as the kids call him, is a HUGE personality at the school, brought out of his shell over four years by the nurturing attention given, not only by specialized staff who have tutored him as a special needs student with autism, but by the accepting student body.
Treasures stolen from a Russian museum during WWII have found their way back home. Two crates with hundreds of rare exhibits stolen in 1941 were voluntarily returned to Russia by a Wehrmacht doctor’s son.
The 480 objects including a collection of crosses, archeological findings and icons stunned employees – many of the objects are extremely rare and valuable.
A province in southern Italy has dedicated a 1,400-year-old olive tree known as “The Queen” to US First Lady Michelle Obama because of her commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles.
Local farmers that manage the land where the tree is located said that the roughly 100 litres (26 gallons) of extra-virgin olive oil made from the fruits of the giant tree would be sent to the White House every year starting this fall.
Mrs. Obama planted an organic garden on the White House lawn and advocates a diet rich in vegetables.
Actor Gary Sinise, known for his role as Lieutenant Dan in the film Forrest Gump, played a concert last night with his “Lt. Dan Band” to raise money for a North Carolina soldier who lost both legs and one arm while serving in Afghanistan.
Corporal J.B. Kerns will get a custom home from Sinise’s foundation which has helped build several technological “smart homes” to meet the needs of wounded veterans.
Gary Sinise’s passion in this area was born from his family’s deep roots in military service and from a desire to contribute following the attacks on September 11, 2001.
“Lieutenant Dan,” the character Gary portrayed in the film Forrest Gump, earned him not only an Oscar nomination, but also an instantaneous, enduring connection with servicemen in all branches of the military community. Since 2003, he has contributed his time doing hundreds of personal appearances and concerts in military bases in Iraq and around the world.
He will once again co-host the annual National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, DC this weekend.
The Gary Sinise Foundation works in partnership with Building Homes For Heroes and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which supports children who have lost a parent, and firefighters and military that have been seriously injured. He has helped to raise millions of dollars, as well as donating his own money to help give back to military personnel and their families.
Organizers of an online Mideast peace movement say they are launching the Internet’s first university for Israelis and Arabs across the Middle East.
The Online Academy will offer students courses in government, social networks, communications and skill development, which the founders say “can revolutionize relations between young people of the Middle East.”
Georgetown University medical students recently held their yearly religious service, to say thank you to anatomical donors.
Marlene also credit the 
