WHO CAN BE HEROES?

You’ll probably enjoy this month’s cover story about high school students who have beaten the odds and come out on the “right” side of difficult situations.

It has all the elements of a compelling story: Bad things happening to good people. Neighbors taking an interest in those whom others have ignored. Heroes who have overcome the odds.

And that is the point of each high school senior’s story: Each student has turned lemons into lemonade pretty much on his or her own terms.

We’ve written stories similar to these for the past few years; most people can’t resist reading about those who can’t and won’t be kept down by bad luck, people who have the will and the determination to turn something bad into something better.

The true test of this kind of story, though, is how you and I relate to the hero. We’ve seen what the hero does with his or her life, how things have been turned around against all odds. We’ve read about the causes, the betrayals, the strategies, the hard work and the ultimate victory, of a sort, over what seemed to be a foregone failure.

So the question we then ask ourselves, or at least the question we should be asking ourselves, is: Could we have done as well, given the same circumstances?

Or maybe not “could” we have done as well, but whether “would” we have done as well.

Because reading a story about incredible intestinal fortitude is easy. Reshaping your life while facing down impending failure is a more difficult task and, dare I say, most of us simply couldn’t do it ourselves.

We like to think we could pull the rabbit out of the hat, but the magician who does so has spent literally hundreds of hours learning the trick.

We like to think we could sink the tournament-winning putt or drain the gamewinning shot, but these athletes have given up their lives to practice and plan and prepare to achieve this ultimate goal.

Mostly what you and I do is dream. We don’t put in the time. We don’t do the work. We haven’t faced the situation because, for whatever reason, we haven’t been called to do so.

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And those mental gymnastics support a good measure of baseless confidence, leading us to believe that when the bell rings and it’s time to step up, we can be heroes, too. We’ve seen it done thousands of times. We’ve read about and watched plenty of others do it. Who’s to say we couldn’t overcome the odds, too?

It’s something to think about, though. Put ourselves in the shoes of any of the students we wrote about this month, and then ask ourselves that question: Could we have done what they did?

Be honest, now. Could we really have done what they’ve done and accomplished what they’ve accomplished?

I like to think so. But I’m not 100 percent sure.

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Lighting a spark

New learning center embarks on the future of education

An 8-year-old imagines a dinosaur, designs a sketch, and watches as a Makerbot 3D printer brings his T-Rex to life. On the other side of a frosted glass divider, a group of eighth-graders produces a fictional news broadcast with green-screen technology. No, this isn’t a science museum; it’s a glimpse of what’s possible in the new SPARQ Innovation Center and Makerspace, which Good Shepherd Episcopal

School recently unveiled for its students and the surrounding community. Located in the school’s library, the center facilitates hands-on learning experiences through high-tech tools that utilize and combine elements of science, technology, engineering, math and the arts. SPARQ, which stands for “solving problems, asking realworld questions,” came from collaboration among parents, teachers and Laurie Daum, the head of school, along with the school’s director of technology, Julie McLeod. One student’s father, Dave Copps, attended the 2013 South by Southwest Interactive Festival and returned with the concept for a new research and design center. Copps imagined a space where a child’s imagination would be the jumping-off point for learning.

“We had so much energy when we talk- ed about this. We felt like it wasn’t just a good idea: It was the future of education,” McLeod says.

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As technology evolves, students’ learning environments have adapted. Nearby campuses have recently built STEM labs and makerspaces — communal areas with tools used for creation and design — to better educate students for their future careers. Many colleges are now emphasizing the importance of such an environment, too. MIT, for example, now considers makerspace portfolios in its admissions process. With these factors in mind, effort was made to ensure that every student at Good Shepherd, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, could engage with the new learning center.

“Many makerspaces and science labs are for high school students, but all of our students will be able to walk into the SPARQ space and use something,” McLeod says.

That inclusivity applies not only to Good Shepherd students but to children beyond the campus. McLeod has partnered with Eagle Scholars, a college-readiness program organized by the Vickery Meadow Youth Development Foundation, which raises funds and hosts programs for young people living in the densely populated Vickery Meadow apartment communities just east of Preston Hollow. Many residents are children of immigrants and refugees. Through the partnership, Meadow students can visit the SPARQ center once a week during the summer. In June, Good Shepherd will host an additional community-wide science camp.

“We want this space to not just be exclusive, but to be used as an outreach to the community too,” McLeod says.

Whitney Thompson

FOR MORE INFORMATION about SPARQ and the upcoming science camp, call GSES at 214.357.1610.

What gives?

Small ways that you can make a big difference for nonprofits

Clean out the garage

Donate furniture, clothing and household items to The Family Place Resale Shop (11722 Marsh, Suite 354), which operates under The Family Place organization serving victims of domestic violence. Donations to the shop provide shelter and other basic needs to women and families who are beginning new lives. The shop also accepts volunteers to work with clients and help sort donations. For details, call 214.358.0381 or visit familyplace.org.

Collect food

Leave a bag of nonperishable food items next to your mailbox on May 10, and your letter carrier will pick it up and deliver it to the North Texas Food Bank. It’s part of the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive to help feed hungry people in the community. For more details, visit ntfb.org.

Buy a birdhouse

The Richardson Adult Literacy Center hosts a birdhouse raffle at NorthPark Center, featuring designs by local artists and businesses. Participants can buy $5 raffle tickets or five for $20 beginning May 2 at the ticket table on Level One between Dillard’s and Macy’s. Drawings will be May 20. Visit ralc.org/birdhouses.

KNOW OF WAYS that neighbors can spend time, attend an event, or purchase or donate something to benefit a neighborhood nonprofit? Email your suggestion to launch@advocatemag.com.

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Preston Hollow resident Rick Salewske is preaching the gospel of good health because his life depends on it

When you weigh 538 pounds, traveling can be exhausting and embarrassing, recalls Preston Hollow resident Rick Salewske, who weighed just that at age 38.

“When I visited my family in Michigan, my sisters would be dating, having kids, and moving on. Meanwhile, I was growing more depressed and packing on the pounds,” he says.

One year, because the airplane safety belt wouldn’t fit around his body, Salewske had to drive from Dallas to Michigan. By the time he arrived, the friction of the steering wheel against his rotund torso had worn a hole in his pants.

Now at 51, he is 300 pounds lighter, married, and a proud father of three. He plays basketball, he hits the treadmill daily, and last November, he celebrated 10 years at a healthy weight by finishing the New York City Marathon in five hours and 27 minutes.

That could be a tidy end to a weightloss success story, but for Salewske, depression and other factors that can prompt bingeing are still a daily battle. He thinks it is important to share his story with others suffering from obesity who might feel hopeless.

Years ago Salewske’s concerned boss at Clark Dietrich Building Systems paid for the Cooper Lean Program at the Cooper Aerobics Center, which was a turning point.

“I knew there was no quick diet, that I had to exercise and eat right over time,” Salewske says, “but once I felt the endorphins kick in after I got my heart rate up at the gym, I was hooked.”

Because of his success, Cooper dubbed Salewske “man of the year.” In 2003 he appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s show. A few years later, he graced the pages of People Magazine.

Dallas Morning News writer Debbie Fetterman covered Salewske’s marathon training last year. This year she’s collaborating with him and local literary agent David Hale Smith to publish his story in book form.

“I’m working on the book because I want to connect my story to other people’s stories. If a regular guy like me can conquer a lack of confidence and get healthy, they can, too.”

Salewske represents his company as a guest speaker at national conferences. He’s frequently told that his passion when lecturing on “true life” and how to tap into it by rejecting unhealthy habits mirrors that of a charismatic Baptist evangelist. Salewske takes the comparison as a compliment.

“I just want to keep preaching my story and helping people,” he says.

To keep himself motivated, Salewske set a 2014 fitness goal: run the December Dallas marathon in under four hours.

Whitney Thompson

TO LEARN MORE about Rick Salewske, visit lost300.com

Faith Inclusion Network of Dallas

Building Inclusion in Our Faith Communities

We’re here to help faith-based communities FIND ways to weave inclusion of individuals with special needs into our North Texas congregations.

The Faith Inclusion Network of Dallas (FIND) is a collaborative network of community leaders, organizations and service providers committed to impacting change within faith-based communities and congregations in the ways individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families find opportunities to fully engage socially, emotionally, academically, spiritually and in service to others.

Weaving Inclusion Into Our Faith Communities

Free Symposium | June 19th and 20th

Julie Chapman | Project Director | Faith Inclusion Network of Dallas 469.206.1657 | jchapman@JFSdallas.org