for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com OCTOBER 17, 2013 • The CourieR SUN 3 KIDS LEARN TO ‘PERSEVERE’ BY MAGGIE HAYES [email protected] One man’s story of perseverance left a crowd of middle schoolers captivated. Brandon Trapp of the Wounded Warrior Project spoke to the middle school students at P.S./M.S. 207 Rockwood Park as part of a series of monthly assemblies meant to instill different virtues in the youngsters. The school kicked off the year last month with the topic of respect. Two kids from each grade were awarded for showing respect “above and beyond” as their classmates cheered them on. This month’s theme, perseverance, brought former Army officer Trapp to Howard Beach to discuss his deployment overseas, a crippling injury and his journey back to normalcy. “I liked the idea of being a team and serving something bigger than yourself,” Trapp said of his Army beginnings. In 2010, Trapp deployed to eastern Afghanistan, a site he said was one of the most beautiful, but also the most violent. “Somebody in our battalion was fighting with the Taliban daily,” he said. The officer, now a medical student, then recalled the fateful attack that ultimately sent him home. A rocket landed close to him on the field, and Trapp was thrown. “I knew we had been attacked because I saw the smoke billowing up,” he said. “For the first split second, it didn’t hurt. Then the pain came.” Trapp later learned he had broken his back. He said at first he couldn’t feel his legs, but after a fellow soldier assured him his legs were in fact still there, he thought, “Alright, this is looking up.” His First Sergeant put his head against Trapp’s, yelled “We love you sir,” and the officer was transferred to a hospital in Germany, then to Washington, D.C. As he awoke out of a medically induced coma, the first image he saw was the picture of his Army unit — a “screaming eagle” on a black flag, which eventually was filled with signatures of friends, family, doctors and nurses. Trapp suffered injuries to his femur, torso, left leg and endured extensive nerve damage. “They weren’t really sure if I’d be able to walk again,” he said. But the screaming eagle stayed with him through physical therapy, and a little over a month later he was able to take his first steps. “I made a goal that I wanted to take that flag up a mountain,” he said. A year after his injury, Trapp and a team of Wounded Warriors climbed Mount Baker in Washington, and while thinking about his own injury and his fellow climbers, Trapp made it to the top. Trapp started medical school in August and is contemplating going into trauma surgery because he feels he can thank his own doctors by “being in their shoes,” and treating patients like he once was. To the students, Trapp advised to “be honest with yourself” and “always be focused on what you can do to make a situation better.” THE BIG SQUE ZE Parents, pols fight co-locations BY MAGGIE HAYES [email protected] Parents and pols aren’t ready for their schools to squeeze into one building. Twenty-three co-locations have been proposed within the next four years for schools in Queens, 10 of those in the southeast community. The Department of Education (DOE) is proposing Q297 join J.H.S 226; and P.S. 233, New Transfer High School join August Martin High School and later add a Success Academy elementary charter school. Parent Takia Moore said she chose J.H.S. 226 for her daughter because it stood alone without a high school, and was “under the impression that my child would be free from the peer pressure of older high school students,” she said. “Once again, the administration has proposed a plan without taking into consideration the consequences it will have for Queens’ youth,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie. “The proposed colocations will force these schools to share even more resources while the standards they are required to meet continue to rise.” Proposals also exist to truncate P.S. 174 to a kindergarten through fifth grade school; join new middle school Q287 with J.H.S. 008 and York Early College Academy; and co-locate J.H.S. 72 and P.S. 993. “Forcing more schools into a single building is not the solution,” said Councilmember Donovan Richards. “When more students are squeezed into fewer classrooms, some children get left behind.” Success Academy Charter School additionally hopes to co-locate with I.S. 59 and P.S. 176, and there are plans to co-locate five magnet high schools in District 29. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF COUNCILMEMBER LEROY COMRIE Borough pols joined together to protest almost two dozen proposed school co-locations. “The Bloomberg Administration’s tone-deafness is on full display in Queens,” said Melinda Katz, Borough President candidate. “By starving, colocating, and closing public schools in low-income neighborhoods just to cozy up to the charter school lobby, this administration is hurting our students and robbing our city of talent we will need in the next generation of workers and leaders.” For more information on proposed co-locations within the borough, visit http://schools.nyc.gov/ community/planning/changes/queens/portfolio. htm. Hearings will be held for all individual proposals. Dates can also be found on the DOE website. “We need an immediate freeze on co-locations, until a new mayoral administration takes the reins and reevaluates the long-term effectiveness of the policy,” Katz said. education THE COURIER/Photo by Maggie Hayes Brandon Trapp from the Wounded Warrior Project spoke to middle school students at P.S./M.S. 207 about perseverance, the school’s theme for the month of October. SAFE CROSSING Speed board installed near P.S. 232 BY MAGGIE HAYES [email protected] Speeders take note and slow down. A new mobile speed board has been installed across the street from P.S. 232 in Lindenwood, right outside the bustling Lindenwood Shopping Center on 153rd Avenue. “The Department of Transportation (DOT) has finally responded to our concerns,” said Assemblymember Phillip Goldfeder, who requested a “traffic calming device” be brought into the area. School officials, parents and community members have been asking and fighting for safer streets around the elementary school for years. Administration and faculty members frequently escort students across the busy intersection at 153rd Avenue and 83rd Street. In September, State Senator Joseph Addabbo requested P.S. 232 receive speed cameras for a pilot program designed to nab speedy drivers around city schools. Now, the DOT has stepped in and put up the temporary speed board, setting the speed limit at 25 miles per hour. The organization is still completing a study that will determine whether speed bumps are needed in the area. DOT’s School Safety Unit has also committed to coordinate with the school’s parents and students to identify other solutions. Goldfeder said the speed board will “deter drivers from using this stretch of road as a personal speedway.” “This is the first step in the right direction, but we must remain vigilant to protect our children and community,” he said. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF ASSEMBLYMEMBER PHILLIP GOLDFEDER A mobile speed board was installed outside P.S. 232 to deter drivers from speeding.
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