Two tragic lessons

The words heart failure and teens are rarely spoken in the same sentence. Yet when Taylor died suddenly, the community lost a life more precious than others due to the loss of unfulfilled potential. In response to Taylor's death, Burlingame High School students observed a moment of silence on the first day of school and were invited to write their prayers, hopes or condolences for Shelton and his family on a banner hung on campus. Students also took the initiative to leave flowers out of respect for their fellow student. Shelton - loved by his family, friends and teachers alike - never got to fulfill his dreams.

As teens we should take advantage of our circumstances in life and live a life as joyful and meaningful as Taylor's.

Unfortunately, this past weekend, the community was hit with yet another tragic piece of news: The sudden death of 17-year-old Nick Barron.

While speeding down State Route 92 at anywhere from 90 mph to 100 mph, Barron lost control as he changed lanes. Barron was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from his seat while the two residing passengers, who were wearing seat belts, walked away with minor injuries.

In life, we all make bad choices, yet sadly Barron's choice to speed resulted in the loss of a life.

As teens, we must be more conscious of the choices we make with the heightened responsibilities we are given. Even if we make the right choices though, we cannot be safe from freak medical anomalies. Regardless of the fact that bad things happen to good people, we must still respect our lives and enjoy the time we have here.

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In Barron's memory, Aragon High School student Marisa Lopez is making bracelets. She and her mother collectively produced an estimated 400 bracelets which come along with a flier so people can better understand Lopez's intentions. The bracelets are made of ribbon and have different types of beads, representing love, memories and pulse.

However, this does not sum up this ambitious teen's goals. Because people responded so positively to Lopez's gracious actions, she is collecting donations to reimburse costs. Yet she has larger ideas in mind; Lopez is instead strategizing on how to put the $80 to a better use by creating a nonprofit organization, most likely to be named after Nick Barron, to promote teen safety. Though painful, tragic events can spawn inspirational actions and generate unity.

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As high school students in the local community, we are setting out to write this column with two things in mind: to report local occurences that are of consequence to our fellow youth and to provide insight into life as a teen. We would like to collaborate with school newspapers in the area and hope the editors of these papers will contact us in an effort to show that teens have a voice in this community as well. If you have some news, drop us a line throughout the year. We look forward to hearing from you.

Teen news is a weekly column written by Marie Franco and Mara Burger. Franco attends Burlingame High School and Burger attends Terra Nova High School in Pacifica. You can contact them at studentnews@hotmail.com.