Redefining an Industry: Honoring Sarah Burke

Canadian freeskier, Sarah Burke, passed away last night after
battling critical injuries she received from a training crash on Jan. 10. 

Many of you (including myself) knew little-to-nothing about the Canadian freeskier, Sarah Burke, until her recent training crash on January 10th. I'm not trying to be shallow, but honestly much of what I knew about her I feel like was only available because she was in the limelight for being very attractive while being successful. After her accident I obviously watched the news and ESPN to delve deeper into the life of this revolutionary athlete, and that was how I discovered the ways in which she completely redefined the sport she loved.

Burke began skiing at the age of 5, and found an immediate attraction to performing aerial tricks and spins. As a teenager she began to compete in half-pipe and slope-style competitions, but was turned away or forced to compete with the boys because of the lack of women's divisions. After proving that she was more than capable of competing with even some of Canada's best male skiers, she moved on to compete in the Winter X-Games where she would win 4 gold medals and press them to add a division for women's slope-style competition.

Her list of accolades do not end there, however, as Burke was the first skier to win an ESPY athlete of the year award in 2007. She was also was the first woman to ever land a 720, 900, and 1080 at a competition, but perhaps her greatest accomplishment was her campaign to include her sport as an official competition in the Winter Olympics. A campaign that proved to be successful when in 2011 the Winter Olympics Committee announced that the 2014 Winter games would include both half-pipe and slope-style women's skiing competitions.

Unfortunately Burke would never get the opportunity to win an Olympic Gold Medal when she passed away last night at the age of 29, but her legacy will live on through the countless number of women who will now have the opportunity to compete as Olympic athletes in the sport the Burke held so dear to her heart. Those close to Burke, however, would tell you her best qualities were not her skiing prowess, but her humbleness and accessibility. She was always trying to make connections with her fans and spread her knowledge for the sport to aspiring competitors.

Even in death she was trying to impact the lives of those around her, requesting that her usable tissues and organs be donated. I hope I have been able to shed some light on the life of this amazing athlete and even more spectacular human being. Take some lessons from Burke in her remembrance today, and share you life, time, and passion for what you love. Who knows, it might be you that opens the door for great new accomplishments for not only yourself, but more importantly, other people with the same passion.

Click here if you wish to make a donation to Sarah's family to help pay for her costly medical treatment.

-John Jr.

The Return of 2 Students!

After getting completely lazy and taking an unnecessarily long break from posting, I am happy to inform you that "2 Students and Their Opinions" is coming back stronger than ever! My expectations are to have new posts daily (topics permitting), and to also have more engaged discussion amongst the comments that are posted. Be ready for more honest opinions about the latest news from around the world, nothing is to significant or insignificant for us to argue about!

Be sure to check back daily for all the latest news and opinions!

-John Jr.

Romney Takes "Strong" Stance

I have been blankly starring at my computer screen for 2 hours trying to decide whether or not I actually want to journey down this road and write about politics (particularly Republican politics). Blogging about politics is generally a lose-lose situation because no matter what you say, fact or fiction, people are going to lash out and people are going to get pissed. It's a fact of life that people (educated or not) will take a "never back down" stance in politics for what they believe is correct. So it is with much reluctance that I finally decided I am intrigued enough by this Romney statement to post about it. Let the debacle begin...

Republican primary front runner, Mitt Romney, sets his sights on
South Carolina after a decisive victory in the state of New Hampshire 

After winning the primaries in both Iowa and New Hampshire, Mitt Romney spoke some parting words as he plans to head down to South Carolina. Some of what he said was particularly interesting, but none more-so than this: "I will insist on a military so powerful no one will ever think of challenging it." Literally nothing could stereotype a Republican or us as Americans more than such a statement (sorry I'm not sorry conservatives), but the question remains--is Romney for real? Or just giving himself some fire-power against Ron Paul for the upcoming battle in South Carolina? 

Now that I've presented the questions, you can probably see where I am heading with this. I was massively critical of this remark at first thinking to myself, "really that's how you want to lead our foreign policy?" My inner college kid and satirical personality consumed my thoughts, "yeah, great statement Romney, if the rest of the world didn't hate us before, they will if you become President." Being an non-confrontational person and avid supporter of world peace (that's right, make love not war), this comment really bothered and even disgusted me. As my temper simmered though, and I continued to sit on this egg for a while, and it finally hatched for me. I pushed the grand scope out of the way and focused in on the small picture. I decided that whether or not Romney actually believes what he said (and Lord do I hope he doesn't), it was incredibly smart to make this comment heading into a state that places an extremely high priority on military service. 

This statement was even more valuable because second place man, Ron Paul, has different views on military service and issues. Paul's views aren't necessary something that South Carolina republicans will not favor, however; I just believe it was a nice (dare I say "subtle") move by Romney to gain a competitive edge heading down South (yes, I realize that's an innuendo). In this election people want to be inspired by something, and a strong statement towards a state that places a high precedence on military service is going to give Romney a significant advantage.  

I guess I must be overreacting because I didn't see anything on the morning news or CNN about this statement, but I thought it was an important point to talk about because I felt like it was really stereotypical. At this day and age, I really want to soak in everything I can about each candidate before I make a decision about who I want to be our next President. I feel like we are in an extremely critical point in our country's history, and making the correct choice in this election could be the difference between renewed prosperity or decades more of recession.

-John Jr.