For this category, I will be telling you the process I went through with my capstone project. 1 month ago, I had to choose a topic for a year-ending research, Capstone. (Capstone is a year-ending project that all Scarsdale 5th graders have to do). I didn’t struggle as much as some of the other kids in my class to pick a topic. I ended up choosing Police Dog Handler and Universal k-9 for my topic.
It was easy for me to pick a topic because I have done a project before capstone about Police Dog and I found a inspiring organization called Universal K-9, they saved a dog named Kia, the story of Kiah is down below. (Universal K-9 is a non-profit organization that rescues dogs from shelters to become law-enforcement dogs). Also I got interested in Police Dog Handlers when I was studying about Police Dog. I had a topic that I love, but now what…..
Story Of Kiah
Pit Bull named Kiah is one of the most famous and inspiring k-9. Kiah works for Poughkeepsie Police Department in NY and is the first pitbull police dog in Ny. She was a shelter dog, she was first found wandering behind Texas Convenience and brought to a shelter with a serious injury on her bloody head. It turned out that she was hit in the head with a hammer by her owner. At the shelter, she recovered with a serious vet care. Shelter workers at the shelter loved her, they said that “She had a loving personality and was loved by everyone she met.” After about 9 months in the shelter, she had a once in a life-time opportunity. Shelter workers noticed that Kiah had extreme drive (Dogs that have extreme drive is perfect for police dogs because they are willing to do anything), so they called Brad Croft, Brad Croft has trained hundreds of dogs to become law enforcement and military dogs and he is the founder of Universal K-9 (Universal k-9 is a nonprofit and it still exist for saving dogs to become a law enforcement dog.) When he came to Kirby Animal Shelter, he decided to give a chance to Kiah. After about 10 weeks of training, Justin Bruzgul, officer at Poughkeepsie Police Department in Ny came to take a look at kiah, he felt a special connection with her so he brought her home. Now Kiah helps her handler Justin Bruzgul detect drugs and bombs and is one of the 12 dogs that successfully graduated from Universal k-9. She earned a Prestigious Public Service Award Of 2016 From the American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals.
Meet Eleonore, an immigrant with an interesting story. She had many challenges and exciting times. She had a great life in France, but it was hard for her to get a job, so she decided to make a life changing decision. Now presenting “This Is My Place.”
“This Is My Place”
(Part of the 5B Series “Immigrant Voices”)
Yuki Matsuoka
Siyo: Today in America, many people have bad thoughts about immigrants only because it was said that they are bad for our country on TV by someone like President Donald Trump. What anti-immigrants don’t know is what immigrants, illegal or not, have gone through to feel like they are at home. All immigrants have an interesting story. Sometimes it might be funny, or exciting, or sad, but it is important to know what immigrants have gone through before disliking or having bad thoughts about them. Eleonore, a legal immigrant who has lived in America for years, came here from France. She had many challenges and had a rough beginning, but after years of living in America, she finally feels like she is at home. Here is Yuki Matsuoka with Eleanor’s story.
Yuki: Thank you Siyo. Every immigrant has a reason to be here in America. Most of the time they come for more money or they are running away from a war. For Eleonore, she came here for more opportunities.
Eleonore: I, first it was chance, a teacher in my university told me there was a job as a teaching assistant in France in Ohio in a college, and ok, I, I was good enough at English and I love to teach so I said all right and I came. And then after two years I changed college, I came to teach at um..in NJ and met my future husband.”
Yuki: A surprise was waiting for Eleonore when she arrived in America. She said it was one of the most challenging things she has been through as an immigrant.
Eleonore: “When I landed in Ohio, a teacher came to pick me up, a teacher of the university where I was going to teach French, and he was very nice to me and he brought me to my dorm and LEFT ME. He didn’t bring me to his house, and in the dorm there was no bed sheet on the bed, there was nothing, expect the mattress, the metal bed and the desk and a chair, and I did not know where to go to get all these things. I had no idea what to do. I did not even have a bath towel with me and this teacher had no clue and I had never been on my own ever before, so it was such a shock.”
Yuki: Eleonore faced many other struggles with other things.
Eleonore: “English wasn’t too much of a problem, although it was so irritating not to find the words right away for everything, so frustrating, and ah…People were welcoming in America. And my challenges were…to find what I needed. I had no idea which store to go to for what. I knew nothing of what was in America. Ah… the food a little bit, it was very new, especially the cooked dishes, so different and….Well I think that was, that was my two biggest challenges.”
Yuki: For Eleonore, she missed many things from her life in France.
Eleonore: “Oh, loved ones, always loved ones, but I also missed a lot the lifestyle in France. It was less stressful and I, I liked a lot things I was used to and I had to find knew habits here, new things I liked that I could enjoy as much. And it took me many years.
Yuki: Eleonore missed her family and friends. She had homesickness, but she found a way to overcome.
Eleonore: My mom’s phone calls every day at the beginning were helping a lot, then it was once a week and it was enough.
Yuki: Although she had many challenges and struggles, there are always good experiences living in America
Eleonore: My best experience was to all of a sudden have a job in a college and I never had a job before in my life and it was made so easy here, everything seemed easy for work, while in France it looked so difficult to me. And another great thing was to learn driving. I learned driving here and I was terribly scared in France and here not at all, because cars are automatic here so I felt great.
Yuki: After many good experiences in America, Eleonore still had disadvantage as an immigrant because immigrants do not know many things about America and have to worry about more things than Americans.
Eleonore: “Oh the disadvantage is mostly to not know, to be lost, to feel lost, you, you don’t know where to go for what and, and you don’t know really how people will behave with you, you don’t know what you are allowed to ask, not to ask, so yeah the biggest disadvantage is to not know…the country you are in, to not know the habits and the language is also new and scary but…for me, for French, and I had studied English a lot, it was ok.”
Yuki: Eleonore had a few people who made a positive difference in her life in America. She needed them to help her feel like she was at home.
Eleonore: “Oh yes, of course. First of all, Americans are very friendly. They don’t judge you, you know, they…you ask something, they answer nicely. They try to help you. Who else…my teachers were very nice, the students, I loved my students in college, they were so friendly and uh…what else I had an uncle in Dallas and I went to see him for Christmas, for my first Christmas and that really, wow.. I was so happy, I had a home to go to. I also had wonderful host parents at my college, an American family who, who came to guide me about many things and I could go, they would come to pick me up and bring me to their house for all the American festivals, like Thanksgiving. I never knew what it was. Halloween, they taught me everything, and they were so, so kind.
Yuki: After years of living in America, and with all the people Eleonore received help from, she is starting to feel less like an immigrant, and is feeling more and more comfortable here.
Eleonore: No… well yes, yes I still feel like an Immigrant, but on the other hand I also feel this is my place, so I am in my country as an immigrant and I like it. It’s positive and nowadays it is not like in the times of war jack, now days I can find everything I need, especially in Scarsdale, it’s full of French bakeries and Dechico, where they bake chickens like they do in France, where I find French cheeses and uh so any French people if I want to hear French and yea I, I feel like it’s my home now.
Siyo: Eleonore and other immigrants have experienced difficult times, but there are always good sides of being an immigrant. No matter if people like Donald Trump say immigrants are bad for our country, America is a country that immigrants love.
This year is an exciting year. companies are finally going to sell the PAL-V and the Aeromobil. But, very exciting thing that is going to happen is the release of tho new phones. Including the Lg g6, samsung galaxy/note s8, Th iphone X/8, and the Google Pixel X/2, & Mi Mix 2, HTC 11, OnePlus 4, New Sony Xperia, Nokia 8, and the Nokia 3310. But which is the best? According to this year’s phones, the best three phones of 2016 are The Google Pixel, Sam Galaxy S7 (android) and the iphone 7 (ios). So probably Google, Apple and Samsung are going to battle to make the best phones of 2017. But this year the Lg g6 might be in the battle too, with its new cool features. Which phones do you think is going to be the best?
Today (Feb, 14) was the last day of the Winter Games. Μy team (west) came in third place but I know we tried our best and that is the most important thing.. Overall the three things I enjoyed the most was curling, hand ball, and teamwork/sportsmanship we, the West had in the Winter Games. First curling was so fun. Before I did this, I have not heard about the sport curling ever in my life before the Winter Games. It was so fun learning about the history and even trying it out for the first time, I scored the first goal in the house. I loved it, and I am hoping that I can do it again soon. Second I loved handball because I personally think my team and I worked really well together. We also crushed this year’s camp the East 7 ~ 1 (I was playing goalie 3/4 of the game and when I was doing offense ¼, I put the ball in the back of the net 4 times and when I was not in the goal the other team scored). I think the first goal (Which was scored by me) changed the mood of our team, everyone in the team got to touch the ball before scoring and most importantly everyone was happy and had confidence against the East and I scored it. Lastly I enjoyed the winter games because my team and I communicated and worked together as a team. There were many things that I thought was was unfair to me mostly, and my team/other teams. Although I did not complain once and that it why I think we got the most sportsmanship points, I am really proud of that. After all, the Winter Games was very, very fun and if I could do it again, I will and hope we will win. But the most important thing is that we tried our best.
Hi guys. My class and I (Fox Meadow fifth grade)have been raising money by doing a tie dye sale and doing a bake sale. We have raised $3,000. Also, we have one more exciting thing that is coming up. On February 24th and 25th (over February break), we are having a huge charity tag sale at Saint James the Less Church in Scarsdale with several former Fox Meadow students that will help us out. We hope to make $5000-$8000. We are going to use the money to send kids from Mount Vernon to summer camp. We have been doing this for several years.
OMG, I love tea cup poodles. I have one and had one before that one. I just love them. Miniature teacup poodle can fit in the palm of your hand. And the special thing about them is that they are going to stay that size for the rest of their lives. They are really smart (they are the second smartest dog breed in the world), so they are easy to train. They were bred in France and meant to be a water hunting dog, but they are so adorable. Here are some pics of it.
Hi guys, I asked people “What is the first thing you think of when you hear Pit Bulls,” and most of the people said mean, dangerous, and vicious. I strongly disagree, sure they might have killed few people but haven’t we (Human) killed more pit bulls than they killed us (Yes). Also it turns out that Pit Bulls that killed a person was often illegally trained to fight which made them aggressive. If you still disagree with me, there is a one amazing story about a Pit Bull named Kiah. Kiah was first found wondering behind Texas Convenience and brought to a shelter with a serious injury on her head. It turns out that she was hit in the head with a hammer by her owner. At the shelter, she recovered with a serious vet care. Workers at the shelter say that “She had a loving personality and was loved by everyone she met.” After about 9 months in the shelter, she had a once in a life-time opportunity, Brad Croft, director of Universal K9 and has trained hundreds of dogs to become law enforcement and military dogs. When he came to Kirby Animal Shelter, he decided to give a chance to Kiah. After about 5 months of training, she started working for Poughkeepsie Police Department in NY helping his handler Justin Bruzgul detect drugs and bombs. Soon after she earned Prestigious Public Service Award Form American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals. I hope you have changed your mind about Pit Bulls!!
What’s up guys! Today I typed about what was mind blowing to me. I hope it would do the same to you!!
Did you know a dog can have more than 17 jobs? I will list all of the jobs I know. Dvd sniffing dog, arson detecting dogs, body sniffing dogs, canine detecting dogs, termite detecting dogs, snake detecting dogs, truffle sniffer dogs (Japan), bed bug sniffing dogs, guide dogs, police dogs, hearing dogs, rescue dogs, drug sniffing dogs, military dogs, search and rescue dogs, water rescue dogs and ski patrol dogs. That is all I know, if you know any other jobs that dogs have please send me a comment so I can add on this blog.
My class and I had a homework over winter break. We had to write a six word story(A story that uses only six words) about our favorite part about the break. Sounds fun, right? This is my six word story!
I got a awesome Google Pixel!!
Found my present.
Let’s see what is inside.
It’s a Google Pixel, a screen protecter and a case with my dog’s pic on it.
