On March 1st another event occurred. For the first time I attended the annual YELL conference hosted by the YELL Organization of my high school. Last year I wasn't able to attended for multiple reasons. In all honesty, I was glad I was able to attend this year even if many people said it was not as good as last year.
There were many presenters in the YELL Conference and each of them had there own story. The two I thought were the best were the first and the last presenters. Mr. Story Musgrave and Ms. Jessica King had outshined everyone else that day.
Mr. Musgrave was a former NASA astronaut as well as a former Marine. He grew up as a farm boy taking care of the family farm from the early age of 12. Mr. Musgrave was exposed to mechanics daily and soon dropped out of high school to join the Marines Corps in 1953. In 1967, he was selected to become an astronaut for NASA. He was the only person to go into orbit in the 5 different Space Shuttles with the exception of John Glen. Finally in 1997 he retired from NASA in continuing his life and family. Today he has a seven year old daughter who is involved in mechanics as well as in other areas such as art, nature and animals.
Not only was I able to experience great presenters, a tragedy happened. My best friend, a mixed Colombian and Venezuelan received terrifying news in the middle of Ms. King's presentation. With family in Venezuela and the many protests and conflicts the worst is imaginable. His uncle, a role model to him, a person he lived with while he lived in Venezuela and his mother in the United States, was shot at a protest near his home. Along with the one hundred bodies, his uncle was among one of them. Of course news like this can affect someone with tears or perhaps with silence and this time it was silence. Nothing that I was able t do could cheer him up. All I could do was just hug him.
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