Joanne

"Life's too short to not enjoy it!" By Madel Liquido

Joanne Li is your average eighth grade student, always coming to school prepared, ready to go, and striving to be better at everything she does. And, like most of us, she’s a bit lazy, outgoing but not all the time and always yearning for a touch of humor to each day. With her long, blonde-streaked hair and make-up-free face, she may seem like your average Joe. However, surprisingly, this is not the case.

** Food for Thought ** When it comes to //the love of our life// most of us don’t even dare to bring up the topic and those of us that muster enough courage to are still hesitant to answer. Well not Joanne. She has already picked the love of //her// life. There is no love greater than the love of food, despite her model-like structure. Don’t worry, marriage has not yet come to mind. “Unfortunately, I cannot marry food,” she says sadly. But if she could, however, Italian food would definitely be a contender. “I just love //tomatoes.// I guess that’s why I love Italian food so much,” she jokes, “Spaghetti, garlic bread, tomato sauce, I love them all! I even eat tomato sauce raw!”

** “Stress but Not too much” ** Joanne also enjoys drawing animals and Perry the Platypus with her expensive Prisma colored pencils. “They may be forty dollars a pack, but the way they blend and their quality are all worth it.” It’s no surprise that, like others her age, Joanne enjoys hanging out with and communicating with her friends. With Facebook and the mall out there what teenager doesn’t? Unlike other kids, however, Joanne is still able to manage time for her studies. School seems important to this student, judging on her status in school. She is in honors English, math, and Spanish; all the honors classes possible. You’d think that all this may seem a bit stressful but to Joanne it’s anything but. “School is going pretty smooth so far although I tend to procrastinate, stay up late, and have a lack of sleep all the time,” she chortles. “Stress but not //too// much.”
 * || Although her love for food remains somewhat of a Romeo and Juliet story, there are still other interesting activities this teen enjoys doing such as jogging and drawing. From sixth to seventh grade, Joanne was a cross country runner. After the first year, in sixth grade, she liked it so much that she decided to join again in seventh grade. It was also to stay in shape and stay healthy. “I hated practice both years actually,” she confesses. “But, although it was very tiring, the medals and feeling of accomplishment afterwards were all worth it.” She continued cross country until budget cuts and health concerns came to play. Joanne developed problems with her kidneys and this made everything in her life related to running come to a screeching halt. Her doctor issued a medical which prohibited her from running. This affected both her school and personal life. “I can’t do cross country anymore, obviously, and I don’t partake in fitness day in gym anymore either,” she sighs, “I am also not allowed to run for a long period of time.” Hopefully she will be able to overcome this hurdle in her life and express her love for running once again. ||

Joanne was born in St. Peter’s hospital in New Brunswick on July 26, 1997. It was a normal, peaceful, summer day. What could possibly go wrong? “They accidently made my birth certificate say the 27th instead of the 26th,” Joanne explains. “I guess it was because of the summer time or whatever. I’m not sure if it was Daylight Savings though.”
 * Birth Day Mishap **

As a child, Joanne describes herself as “energetic, active optimistic, and smiling all the time.” She was also a very obedient child since she had strict parents. An active child, she enjoyed playing outside and with her toys. There was one toy that stood out though, a plastic doll. She brought it everywhere with her until she was three years old and lost it at her grandma’s house. She says that she was very sad, but knew that the day would come “sooner or later”. Her childhood also consisted of crazy memories and tales of adventure. Long ago, when Joanne was a small child, her, her brother, and her brother’s friends were by a river. They started to throw rocks into the river because it made “cool ripples”. But then Joanne got a huge rock and tried to throw it into the river. That’s when things started to go wrong. Just as it was about to fall, one of her brother’s friends lifted his head up at the exact same moment and got hit by the rock, in the head. “We got into a lot of trouble,” she explains nervously. “My brother told me not to tell our parents but the parents of my brother’s friend eventually found out.”
 * Childhood “Rocks” **

So far, Joanne has no current dreams or career in mind but she thinks it would be “cool” to be an engineer. She says it’s because she enjoys building and taking things apart. However, she also dreams of one day becoming a model. This is no surprise since her celebrity role model is the one and only Tyra Banks. “She believes that true beauty comes from within and is not based on how you look alone,” Joanne declares. “I admire that. She (Tyra) also is very successful, the host of a reality and talk show.” Joanne wouldn’t choose modeling as a profession though. She sees it only as a “dream job” and not something that will help her succeed in life or reaching her goals. She plans on going to an Ivy League college as an intelligent student, not an illiterate model going to a community college. However, Joanne still plans on entering “America’s Next Top Model” at some point in her life.
 * Wanna Be on Top? **

“Ten years from now, I envision myself married with no kids, yet lots of money, a big house, and with a Porsche in my driveway.” Don’t we all? Joanne admits that she is probably still dreaming about being a model, but still accepts where she’s at. She would like a life full of humor and says that she would probably be living it to the fullest. “Life’s too short to not enjoy it,” Joanne proclaims surely. She says that she would probably stay in New Jersey or someplace in the United States. She would also like to live in Australia. “What’s there //not// to love about Australia? The scenery is awesome. I just love Australia!”
 * Dreaming Big **

An aspiring and achieving student, model, kid, athlete and friend, Joanne is certainly the one to beat. Who //wouldn’t// want to be a little like Joanne Li? There’s no need for a crystal ball here; the future’s already got something planned for this intelligent, outgoing, girl. Whatever it may be, you know it’ll have something to do with success and accomplishments. And maybe even a little time on the runway!
 * The Virtue of Success **