Last week I spent part of an afternoon in Chris Pagan's Grade 6 class at Georgia Avenue Community School. Chris created an exciting Hidden Heroes project where he had his students find their own real-life Hidden Hero and then turn them into a Super Hero and tell their story in comic book style. The results were awesome.

One of the girls told a story about her grandmother who managed to escape from a personal drug problem and now help others do the same. The comic book story was extremely well done and it made me think of a Grade 12 student who had written a powerful story about her sister who also managed to turn her life around.

Both of these students preferred to be keep themselves and their Hidden Heroes anonymous so names and other details have been changed. The Grade 12 student's story follows:

My Hidden Hero is my sister, Dina Johnston. She was born on February 8, 1982. Dina has come a long way in life.

When she was 16 she started hanging out with the wrong people. She ran away a couple times and got herself into a lot of trouble.

Then in the summer of her grade ten year, she went to live with our aunt and uncle in Prince George. While she was there, she began to realize that she had to change the way she was living or she was going to lose her family.

She came home a changed person. She was much nicer to all of us and chose some new friends to hang out with. She also found a new boyfriend and eventually lived with him for several years.

While she was with him she tried to go to college but ended up dropping out after a couple months. Soon after that she realized that being with him was just holding her back so she left and moved back home.

Shortly after she moved in, we had some serious family problems and it was her strength of character during that time that really helped me through. When I felt like nothing was ever going to be good in my life again, she would talk to me and help me see a brighter future. That was one of the hardest times in my life and if she hadn't been there to help me, I don't think I would have made it.

For the last four years she has been working her butt off as a server to save enough money to travel for a year. When she gets back, she plans on going to college. She doesn't know what she wants to study yet but she is determined to succeed at whatever she chooses to do.

Dina has really turned her life around and she has set a good example for me to follow. I am so proud of her and think she will do well with the rest of her life.

This strikes me as the kind of powerful story that many teens and parents might benefit from reading. I hope you find it both interesting and helpful.

On another note, I want to thank the following readers of this column who have made donations through the Rotary Club of Nanaimo North to help support AIDS orphans at Sihlengeni High School in Zimbabwe: Bill and Pam Pineo, Dick and June Noble, Margaret Wall, Olive Weber, Peter Van Velthuijsen, Tove and Jim Garr, Arla Jean Murch, Shirley Lee, Kathleen da Rosa, Diane Springford, Shirley Winkler, Carol Evans, Shirley Lee, Erika Blakeman, Kathy Eliason, Olive Webber, Cindy Bertram and Joy Hunter.

These donations will be used to pay school fees and to provide a basic monthly supply of food for these students. You folks have made a huge difference in the lives of these orphans.