Personal Narrative: Dora Rivkina

When most people hear my full name , “Joann Botani," they automatically assume I'm Italian, but truth is I am actually Middle Eastern. From what I know my dad does have a little Italian in his blood but the name “Botani” actually comes from a city in Turkey. I come from an upper-middle class house hold and I have two younger siblings, a brother and a sister. Being the oldest has its challenges because there is so much expected from me whether it is school, work or social life. I tend to think my younger siblings have it easier because I am the one who pushes the boundaries with my parents and because of that my siblings usually get to do what ever the want because it is not as extreme as what I do. It has always been easy for my younger sister because she is the “princess” of the house but I am my dad’s favorite while my brother is a momma’s boy. My family is very competitive when it comes to school and grades, my little brother and I were always duking it out

Kammi Kolanko is my mother and hero. She is 37 years old and works at a school as a substitute teacher in the Norwin Elementary School. She also lives in a house on 1180 Pinewood Road Irwin PA 15642. She helps me with my homework and makes sure I have everything ready for school in the morning each day. She also makes sure I have a good packed lunch for every day in school. She is a person who is an amazingly good and fast cook. She wants us, her kids, to not become selfish. She also wants us to lead productive lives. She hopes we can be kind people when we grow up.

We lived in the ghettos for all of 2 weeks before we were taken to a camp. My family was split up so my mother, my sister, and I were together and my Father was alone. The work camps were terrible they forced us into hard labor my mother and I knew how to sew so we were put into a work group to sew up soldiers uniforms. I ber one day my mother pricked her finger and got blood on one of the uniforms she was beaten by an S.S officer and yelled at continually. If I ever made a mistake or did something wrong my mother would take the beating for me. I objected every time but she would never let anything happen to me. My older sister was not good at sewing but luckily was put near us she helped cook for everyone in the camp. I will always remember the day of the selection my mother was not chosen but I was my mother tried to talk me into believing that getting picked this time was good and that we needed to say goodbye because she was leaving. I knew the truth though. The next day an officer called out the names of the chosen people my name was called. We were told we were going to take a shower. When they stopped us we were in a big room I did not see any shower heads “Gas chamber” I heard someone mumble. I knew my last breath was going to be soon. All at once gaas entered the room coughing came from all around. I said my last goodbye and said a silent Kaddish for myself and the people I was with. I then took my final breath while many

Last year, 2016, scaled to my first tournament that would be played at Marista. I would not

Kiersten Miles became the babysitter for 16-month-old Talia Rosko, not knowing that both of their lives would be changed forever. The 22-year-old college student stepped in to save the toddler's life after meeting the family 3 weeks earlier.

The day that the Warsaw ghetto uprising happened. I’m now 12 and I’m slowly understanding more about what’s happening in the ghettos. Some of the Jewish men and women are smuggling weapons and i'm not exactly sure why but I know it's for a good cause. After the uprising there were men and women being dragged out of their homes and shot in front of their children. There were whispers along the streets that the ghettos that took charge in the revolt were burned down forcing the Jews out and the Germans killed over half of the people. That night i went underground with Adina without our parents knowing a man stood up on a wood table and shouted “We know this is defeat but are we willing to fight more or give up our lives to them?” There were people screaming “no this is our life!” Adina and I heard footsteps so we ran back to our house.

There was boys, girls, men, women, and even babies. I was confused on where we were at. Two men opened the back of the van up and pulled us out and that’s when I saw the sign that read ‘ Concentration Camps’. They separated us women in and children under ten on the left side cabins and men and boys ten and older on the right side cabins. When I got in the cabins they made us strip of our clothes and wrap in blankets. We walked outside in the freezing cold and they had us sit in chairs. They started cutting our hair with so much force. After they were done they sent us back to our cabins. When we went out for lunch I saw Ben and he called me over. He told me that him and some guys were planning to fight the men whose named the Nazis. I told him if he was fighting to was I but he told me to stay and i refused. So after a couple of weeks in the concentration camp Ben told me when and where to meet him and the other men. So the night we were going I met them outside and they told me that we were going to be living in the woods. I was not all for that but if Ben was okay with it then I was too. They later told me that people call them partisan fighters so I guess that’s what we are called. Our way of dealing with the Nazis is to fight back and kill

I remember it all as if it only took place yesterday. We had just finished breakfast on what seemed like a normal Sunday, however little did I know that it would have such a huge impact on my life. After breakfast, mom asked my eldest sister and me if we wanted to visit our grain company. We agreed to go check on the factory with her. While we walked to the factory, we came across many German soldiers. I remember how mom kept telling us that conditions are getting worse for Jews and she was concerned about the factory workers because most of them were Jewish.

Taking a trip to the Southwest, you might encounter your everyday ghost town where most travelers want to take an experience of the supernatural psychic world, also called the “other side” or the “afterlife.” Sounds awesome both ways, but what exactly do you want to experience? The moods? The possession? Casper the Ghost? The history? When visiting ghost towns, most people encounter the history rather than meeting a ghost.

Five years ago, I did something impulsive. I turned myself into a cliché when I decided to be spontaneous and hopped in my car and took off to Vegas. I had no idea that decision would come back to haunt me. Now, I am a super star, engaged to a rock star, and have everything I could ever want. Until my world implodes around me and I find myself running back to where it all began.

I heard her coming so I quickly ran back to my room before she noticed. When I got to my room I started to sob quietly but I had to keep it together because I needed to remember to get Lulu back and to do whatever I could to keep my dog. After I pulled it together I called my friend and she told me she could come over tomorrow so we could make a plan to find my dog and keep her. Then once we got off the phone I went into my mom’s room and sat on the bed.

After coming back from a ride I went down for dinner with Sapt and Fritz. As I was having my splendid meal Sappt commented on his bread and praised the cook on how great the food was today. I then asked them on how I could crush Black Michael. Sapt then commented "Before God, you're the finest Elphberg of them all. But I have eaten of the King's bread, and I am the King's servant. Come, we will go to Zenda!" Which told me he is royal to the King. I then went to bed.

Mirianna was an exchange student from Germany who recently moved to Florida. She was starting her first day of school today. She had learned English in Germany and was very well spoken. The only problem is that when she got to school she stuck out like a sore thumb. She had a deep accent and everyone could clearly tell she was different. She was not used to sticking out this much. She felt uncomfortable throughout the day until a girl named Kayla came up to her at lunch and said "hi I am Kayla can I sit with you". Mirianna looked up and smiled nodding her head at the girl. "I'm Mirianna" she said to Kayla. Kayla began to ask her questions about where she was from and how different it was. Mirianna began to learn many new things from Kayla about

I come from a four-person family. My mom and dad have always been in my life therefore they are the people who raised me. After seeing my parents have a successful marriage, it has influenced me to want the same thing in life and having my first marriage be my last. I have an older sister who is 23. While growing up, me and my sister had a very close relationship. As we grew up, we started to drift apart. I learned a lot from being the youngest child. While being 3 years younger than my sister Taylor, watching her grow up and deal with situations taught me many personal life lessons. Watching her grow up taught me the good and bad things in life and helped me follow the right path. While going through school, I already knew what to expect when it came to the class description and the teacher just by having my sister go through it just a couple years before me. Even though being the younger sister, my whole life is all I know, I couldn’t imagine

I had had been hurt, I was shot in my neck, I was a lucky that I survived that experience. The man who shot me was never found, while I mean a woman who shot me. That lady got away on a motorcycle. Five days after waking up I got to come home, I had never seen our house because I was hurt before we had made it to our new house in New York. Our house was large and walking distance from the zoo mom worked at. Mom later took me to the zoo where she worked. The zoo was a soothing warm green colored entrance with a huge sign above the green saying ZOO. Upon entering I saw parrots and kolas! “OMG I wish I could be here forever!” I sheepishly said.