Born in 1949, Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion. Like many young athletes, she had Olympic dreams, but a serious illness kept her from competing in the Games. The disappointment didn't stop her from going forward. Instead, she became interested in marathon swimming. A brilliant athlete, she was well-conditioned for spending long periods of time in the water. As a long-distance swimmer, she would compete against herself and the obstacles presented by distance, danger, cold, and exhaustion.

    For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world's best long-distance swimmers. In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women's record for the course. In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida. Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.

    Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978. Though the span of water is less than 100 miles wide, it is rough and dangerous. After battling the water for two days, she had to give for the sake of her own health and safety. Even so, she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed. For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reading Cuba. That is how she defined success. It did not matter that her swim came up short; she believed she had touched the other shore.

When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer, she continued to try new things—travelling the world as a reporter, writing books and giving public speeches about her life. Diana Nyad works to inspire others, just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.

    Walk Out of the Comfort Zone and Try New Things

    For most high school students, free periods are useless. From what I have seen, few do homework, instead many are on their phones and talking, making it impossible for those who actually want to do work to complete any. As a senior next year, I think extra periods should be used to take optional subjects.

Our school offers many classes. Now is the time to experiment in different fields of study. We will never know if we are interested or talented in a subject if we don't try it.

    In my 8th grade, I was told that I had to take an art class as a graduation requirement; so in the 9th grade I took Studio and Art. One of the projects was to build a clay pot, but I built mine incorrectly, so it broke in the kiln (窑). I found out that I have no artistic ability at all, and now I know for sure that I do not want to be an artist. However, the class was one of my favorites that year. I was able to try new activities and test my ability.

    Walk out of our comfort zone and try new things! College is when we should focus on a specific major, but high school is when we have to figure it out.

    Half of all college students change their major at some point. By doing that hundreds of dollars are wasted on classes that they would have never needed to take. So use our extra periods to find out what we want to do in college. The classes we choose can impact us in future. Taking optional subjects will enrich our mind. It will also show colleges we are diverse students.

    Six days a week, up and down the red hills of northeast Georgia, my grandfather brought the mail to the folks there. At age 68, he retired from the post office, but he never stopped serving the community.

    On his 80th birthday, I sent him a letter, noting the things we all should be thankful for — good health, good friends and good outcomes. By most measurements he was a happy man. Then I suggested it was time for him to slow down. At long last, in a comfortable home, with a generous pension, he should learn to take things easy.

     “Thank you for your nice words,” he wrote in his letter back, “and I know what you meant, but slowing down scares me. Life isn't having it made; it's getting it made.”

     “The finest and happiest years of our lives were not when all the debts were paid, and all difficult experiences had passed, and we had settled into a comfortable home. No. I go back years ago, when we lived in a three-room house, when we got up before daylight and worked till after dark to make ends meet. I rarely had more than four hours of sleep. But what I still can't figure out is why I never got tired, never felt better in my life. I guess the answer is, we were fighting for survival, protecting and providing for those we loved. What matters are not the great moments, but the partial victories, the waiting, and even the defeats. It's the journey, not the arrival, that counts.”

    The letter ended with a personal request: “Boy, on my next birthday, just tell me to wake up and get going, because I will have one less year to do things — and there are ten million things waiting to be done.”

    Christina Rossetti, an English poet, once said: “Does the road wind uphill all the way? Yes, to the very end.” Today, at 96, my grandfather is still on that long road, climbing.

    About 7 million people over the age of 65 have been diagnosed with depression, and many more could be suffering. It is high time that you learned how to know the signs and help them. Depression is a big problem for seniors, especially those who are lack of care and attention. Older people are much more likely to be alone, socially isolated(孤立的) or feel a lack of purpose. Sometimes older people have a much more difficulty time admitting mental health problems. Many times, the link between depression and physical illness is much stronger.

    The elderly don't like to express sadness the way that young people do. Older people who are depressed may have more physical troubles and may pay more attention to them. Depression may result from early memory loss and meanwhile, depression will make a person forget more and faster. A patient with early memory loss and depression really needs to be treated for the depression to slow the memory loss. A mood change is also a sign of depression. If a previously calm person becomes increasingly annoyed, or a previously clean person no longer bothers to shower or clean up, that person should be considered.

Don't tell older adults that you think they may be depressed, as older adults — particularly men–see depression as a weakness. What you should do is tell them you're worried about their health. Tell them they seem to be out of sorts.

    Say you just want to check with the doctor to see what's going on. Once you've used physical symptoms to get that person to agree to a check-up, mention your fear to the doctor and allow the doctor to approach the subject of depression with the patient.

    What kind of house will you buy in the future? Would you like to live in a house where your plants can call your phone to tell you that they need to be watered? Or a house that helps you cut your energy bill by turning off the lights when you leave a room? It may sound like science fiction, but it already exists! Come and visit the Smart Home at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. It will show how you can live a green lifestyle by making use of advanced technology throughout the home that makes your life easier and simpler.

    The Smart Home uses green technology to record the energy it uses, including electricity, water and gas. The house's energy dashboard (仪表盘) lets you know your energy use through your television and computer. The house greets you with the new information when you walk in the door. It is able to record when you enter and leave rooms, and can switch the lights, television and music off                    .

    The Smart Home is made entirely of recyclable and renewable materials. The furniture is made from used light bulbs, plastic bottles and other renewable materials, but you can't tell from just looking at them. The kitchen countertops (工作台面) are made of recycled glass.

    The entire house is designed to control the use of energy. The roof of the Smart Home has a sustainable vegetable garden, which does little harm to nature. Even the personal computer is green: it uses less power than a 60-watt light bulb. The house can raise and lower the window shades by itself.

    The 82-year-old Frances Wood entered the Nazarene University two years ago. At that time, her husband of 59 years died, which left her a little lonely and sad. As a result, she started to study at university.

    Ms Wood said that she was the oldest student on campus, and was known as “Granny Franny”. The lady is just like a grandma away from home. The students wanted to vote Ms Wood as the homecoming queen, but the granny refused to accept the honor. So instead, the school honored her during half time at a football game by making her become the homecoming granny queen, the first award of its kindness ever given by the school. Ms Wood got a standing ovation(鼓掌) and was presented with flowers. To prove her popularity further, she had three male youths holding on her arm for the evening ceremony.

    Ms Wood took classes in finance, history and literature at university. She said after being widowed two years before, she needed something different to do. When she got to college, she said it was a little surreal being surrounded by the young ones. “I think this is unbelievable and dreamlike to do this,” she said.

    Eager to get into her little classmate circle, she handed out homemade business cards with her phone number and e-mail address, so that the students could reach out to her. The cards also featured a photo of her, saying “about 10 years ago”.