S A N DY
S T R I K E S
Hurricane Sandy hits East Coast, causes damage p. 12-13
Sp ke
CONESTOGA HIGH SCHOOL, BERWYN, PA
VOLUME 63 NO. 2
NOVEMBER 13, 2012
STOGANEWS.COM Photo Illustration: Margot Field /The SPOKE
THE
Opening hearts and homes By Patrick Nicholson and Jenna Spoont Staff Reporter and Managing Editor
When senior Kahle Mandarino goes out to dinner with her racially diverse family, including her white parents, African American brother, white siblings, biracial brother and half-Hispanic cousin, sometimes people ask her family, “Are you guys all together?” “It’s normal. Sometimes when someone calls my name, or I’m going somewhere, they’re looking for some Italian girl with [the last name] Mandarino. And then I show up,” Kahle Mandarino said. Kahle Mandarino, who is of Nigerian descent, was born in America and adopted by her parents, Michael and Terry, when she was two days old. She is grateful that her birth mother chose a loving family for her to grow up with.
“I feel lucky that I’ve had the chance to have a normal family, with a mother and a father and siblings. If my birth mother was not as educated, didn’t have the opportunity to put me through a private adoption, I could have been in the foster care system,” Kahle Mandarino said. “To have all those things line up, and to live here in this great environment, I really haven’t had too many bad experiences [in my life].”
The Adoption Process Kahle Mandarino was born three years after her adoptive parents began the adoption process. Her parents were open to children of any ethnicity. They just wanted to bring home a healthy baby.
See ADOPTION, p. 4