Anna's Blog

Maria Zorrilla has had a passion and love for golf since the age of six. Following her dreams, she has traveled from Mexico to Iowa and become a college golfer and made it to nationals her sophomore year. 

Ms. Zorrilla has competed in over 300 meets since the start of her career. she is top 25 in the Mexican Junior Association, holds best scoring average at Morningside, best finish at nationals for Morningside women’s team and ahs earned 17 top 5 medals in a college career. According to Jonny Douglas, a golfer for Morningside’s men’s team, “Maria is one of the best female golfers we have.”

Ms. Zorrilla has never been one to wait for things to happen she is a go-getter. After putting in the thousands of hours of training, working hard to make her name in the golf community she reached out to Morningside’s golf coach asking for a position on the team He quickly responded with an offer and welcomed her to come to visit the school. She made the long journey and once on campus decided this is where she’d spend the next four years of her life. 

While golf comes easy to Ms. Zorrilla there have been many opticals that have tried to prevent her from playing like her back pain. After her back injury, she had to work very hard to be able to get back on her feet and play golf. She is a woman who does not take no for an answer, she will overcome any obstacle. According to Tanner Zanley, “Maria and I have a very similar thought process. It is amazing to see how far she will push herself to succeed at what she wants in life and can push through any obstacle.”

For now, Ms. Zorrilla is a certified golf instructor and is very proud of her accomplishments while working her summer internship. Maria had a great story about this past summer. It was a regular day at her golf job, helping the children learn more and she saw a boy using a club way to small. She asked him why and it was the only one he had. The next day she talked to her supervisors and grabbed a putter from the golf shop. Once the little boy reached the golf course Maria pulled him aside for a surprise. She said his face lit up and was so grateful and excited. Maria said its those little moments that really make it all worth it. Being able to make a kid excited about golf and being able to make their day. She stated that She has helped eight none profits in the area through golf and made a huge difference in the lives of Siouxland kids. In the future, Maria still sees playing golf but wants to own her own bakery. Cooking is a passion of hers. While she is only 20 and a junior in college her ambition and work ethic is far beyond her years. Ms. Zorrilla is a woman who will make a huge impact in the years to come. 

Drop the chicken and the beef

Many people have heard in recent years that if you wanna save the planet drop the beef. Well, now scientists are saying chicken could be just as bad. According to Vox, ” Its impact on the climate only looks benign when compared with beef. Greenhouse gas emissions per serving of poultry are 11 times higher than those for one serving of beans, so swapping beef with chicken is akin to swapping a Hummer with a Ford F-150, not a Prius.”

It is unrealistic to ask everyone to give up meat. Esciapially chicken, which is the American’s favorite meat. However, if you occasionally switch out a chicken or cow for a veggie that would be a good start. Two of my roommates have gone vegetarian for this exact reason and it seems like they are actually enjoying the process.

Our sympathy goes out to all the families impacted by today’s event. We are working closely with the police and homeland security to find the cause and make sure our customers are safe while shopping.

At 9:53 at the Mega City Mall, an explosion has occurred and 100 were injured. Two fatalities have been reported but are still not identified. Police arrived at the scene five minutes after the incident. Deputy Fuglsang stated, “We still are working on clearing the building so they can launch a full investigation.”

A 12-year-old child is still missing and is reported to have been missing prior to the explosion with an unrelated cause.

A mall worker at Victor’s Secret stated, “I was fitting a man for a new pair of underwear and when I heard the explosion I dived right under the dressing room door and hide in there with the half-dressed man.” Another mall worker who was dressed as Santas elf stated, “I heard the explosion and saw the people running out so I ran right with them.”

Deputy Fuglsang said they will going back and checking to make sure all equipment was up to safety standards. They are also going to collect all eye witness accounts. There was no prior warning and they do not think it was an intentional explosion. They are reviewing security cameras and will have a press conference later this afternoon once more information is collected.

A tragic loss for zoo lovers and staff alike

Homer passed away at 7 a.m. in his enclosure. He was the oldest polar bear at the zoo. The two other polar bears sharing the enclosure have been removed and are being monitored.

Today’s incident will be investigated to determine the exact cause of death. Animal welfare and the preservation of species is the main goal of the zoo. Dr. Shanda stated, “the zoo will perform a necropsy to try and determine the cause of death. The results will not be available for several weeks.”

Zookeeper Sara N. Getty stated, “Homer was a very curious and playful polar bear and we will miss him terribly.” Zookeepers, staff, and attendees all alike will mourn this loss and miss our beloved bear.

Maria Zorrilla has had a passion and love for golf since the age of six. Following her dreams, she has traveled from Mexico to Iowa and become a college golfer and made it to nationals her sophomore year.

Ms. Zorrilla has competed in over 300 meets since the start of her career. she is top 25 in the Mexican Junior Association, holds best scoring average at Morningside, best finish at nationals for Morningside womens team and ahs earned 17 top 5 medals in a college career.

Ms. Zorrilla has never been one to wait for things to happen she is a go-getter. After putting in the thousands of hours of training, working hard to make her name in the golf community she reached out to Morningside’s golf coach asking for a position on the team He quickly responded with an offer and welcomed her to come to visit the school. She made the long journey and once on campus decided this is where she’d spend the next four years of her life.

While golf comes easy to Ms. Zorrilla there have been many opticals that have tried to prevent her from playing like her back pain. After her back injury, she had to work very hard to be able to get back on her feet and play golf. She is a woman who does not take no for an answer, she will overcome any obstacle.

For now, Ms. Zorrilla is a certified golf instructor and is very proud of her accomplishments while working her summer internship. She has helped eight none profits in the area through golf and made a huge difference in the lives of Siouxland kids. In the future, Maria still sees playing golf but wants to own her own bakery. Cooking is a passion of hers. While she is only 20 and a junior in college her ambition and work ethic is far beyond her years. Ms. Zorrilla is a woman who will make a huge impact in the years to come.

Deforestation is at an all time high. The Amazon rainforest is being killed at alarming rates.

Fires are being set ablaze in the forest to clear land for farming. We know they are man made fires since the forest cannot naturally be set on fire because of its damp nature. Fires are also being used as a method to drive native people off their land. “The Amazon has one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity in the world,” according to Vox. We are quickly killing off animals that are endangered and some that may not even have been discovered yet. The Amazon holds secrets we may never know because humans killed it. People are trying to stop this devastating deforestation but their voices are being hidden by large companies looking to use the land for profits.

Some might say oh whale, but to me, this is a disaster that can be stopped.

“The root cause of these stranded, plastic-filled whales is that plastic is cheap and easy to produce but almost impossible for nature to destroy. Chunks of plastic linger for decades, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces” according to vox.

We are slowly killing our planet by producing materials that cannot be decomposed. The plant is dying and we are not doing anything to stop it. Whales are washing up dead because they have consumed so much plastic it is killing them. Dolphins are being suffocated and killed slowly and painfully by the plastic bags in the ocean.

We only have one planet and we need to take care of it. If we do not we will murder every living creature on this planet.

There was a three-way conversation I had right before class started. It was with two men who are best friends. The first guy is very, very tall and thin but, muscular thin, not sickly thin. He has brown hair and was wearing a dark grey hoody with the words cactus and jack written across the back. The second guy I was having this conversation with was wearing a light grey hoody with his hood up. He was also wearing a funky pair of socks. He is shorter than the first guy but still taller than me. He has funky, sand-colored hair that goes in all directions and facial hair in the same color.

We talked about whether or not to come to class and how going home sounded amazing. We were let out late of our first-class so it just seemed better to skip than show up late. We decided to go to class though. The conversation ended as we reach the library doors and Jerry was there holding the door for us.

Modern medicine is changing quickly and going to save millions of lives. Biologists and nurses alike are excited to see how these new medicines and treatments will change not only their jobs but the people around them.

Article 1

Cystic Fibrosis is a deadly disease that affects many across the nation. Luckily there is a drug showing promising results to help fight this illness. ”The triple-combination drug therapy, known as Trikafta. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved Trikafta for use with about 90 percent of patients with cystic fibrosis — those who have the most common cystic fibrosis gene mutation and are 12 or older,” stated by The New York Times. While this is not the full cure when it comes to this disease this is a great start and will help so many people. Drew Binning, nursing major stated, (insert quotes) The publics’ number one concern when it comes to this drug is the price. The company assures it does have patience-assistant programs in place to help. 

Article 2

The first steps to ending cancer. A new process that is safe and feasible is being tested in the medical field. They are editing the patient’s DNA to have the body attack cancer cells. There have been three patients and all three are still alive, healthy and fighting. Skyler Briggs Biology and Chemistry major stated, (insert quotes). Dr. Stadtmauer talked about in an interview with the New York Times, that this is only the beginning, also that science is always changing and evolving. That this is just opening up a whole world of manipulation of cells to be whatever the imagination can think of.

Article 3

One of the most lethal diseases, tuberculosis, has a new experimental vaccine that has protected about half the people who got it. “While a 50 percent success rate is hardly ideal — the measles vaccine, by contrast, is about 98 percent protective — about 10 million people get tuberculosis each year and 1.6 million dies of it. Even a partially effective vaccine may save millions of lives,” according to The New York Times.  Drew Binning, nursing major stated, (insert quotes). The vaccine is still in testing stages but has been tested in about 3,300 adults in Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia. “All of them already had latent tuberculosis — a silent infection that might or might not progress to active tuberculosis. Of those who got two doses of the GSK vaccine, only 13 developed active tuberculosis during three years of follow-up, according to the new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. By contrast, 26 of those who got a placebo progressed to active tuberculosis,” according to the New York Times. There is still a ways to go and this isn’t the final Vaccine but it is a strong start in the right direction.

Modern medicine has still a way to go but, is making strides in the right direction. And will hopefully be able to save millions of lives in the future.

The futuristic circus is here. At Circus Roncalli, based in Cologne, Germany, they have created a 20-foot dancing elephant. This is a great new innovation not only for the circus experience but for the animals as well. A majority of animals that are in the circus are born to be sold to shows. These animals never get to experience what is like to be a wild animal they have only ever known a cage. Being born to be sold is only one way they get their animals the other is the black market. Where animals are taken from the wild at a young age. Both of these are not good for the animal. They deserve to be in the wild. That is why this new technology is so important. It is a whole new innovation for the entertainment world and can save animals. I hope more forms of entertainment that involve animals will choose to invest in this technology, for example, Sea World. They could use technology so customers can get a closer view of the animals without having to let them actually near them.