Alyssa Keller

Brittani Jackson 1

Brittani Jackson 2

Mike Morelli doesn’t feel like he was just “put on earth to take up space,” and he’s certainly doing something about minimizing the space he takes up.  At the age of 18, Mike went from 388 lbs. to 181 lbs. on the reality show, The Biggest Loser.

“I didn’t need ‘Mike Morelli – Biggest Loser’ to be something that defines me,” said Morelli in his motivational speech for the MIPA Summer Workshop members.

Morelli got his wish – he came in second place in the competition and now is only defined by himself.

Not only was Morelli’s weight loss intense, so is his story.  On his way to McDonald’s for work, Morelli heard a casting call on the radio for The Biggest Loser, but brushed it off.  After encouragement from his family, Morelli and his father, Ron, were soon in California and spending nine months on “the ranch.”

During his stay, Mike Morelli fought a personal battle constantly.

“Can I do this?” he wondered.  “Is it possible?”  He now admits that he “wasn’t sure if [he] was ready to change.”

“I thank God every day now,” Morelli said.

Not only has Morelli been an inspiration for the millions of Biggest Loser viewers, but he and his father have inspired Morelli’s brother, Max, to lose 88 lbs. since the show ended.  Their father, Ron, is happy to have “end[ed] obesity in [their] family for good.”

This fall, Mike Morelli will be a Freshman at Michigan State University.  He has reinvented himself, but “[his] plan is still the same.”  He intends to continue to give kindness to others, and eventually become a medical student.

Diamond & Ellen’s Final Video

Nikki DelZenero 1

Sarah Paquet

Kim Maples 1

Kim Maples 2

Kim Maples 3

Column on Driver Registration

As a new driver, I have all kinds of fears.  I’m scared of accidentally going over the speed limit or not seeing a road sign where I should have.  I’m scared of going around the wrong curve.  I’m scared of not seeing a bicyclist.  I’m just plain scared.

In these past two months, I think I’ve done quite well for myself.  I’m a cautious driver and always maintain a good speed.  Even having confidence in myself while remembering to always be cautious, the fear of doing something wrong still lingers in my brain.  The last thing I want to see are the red and blue lights behind me.

I told my mother this on a Tuesday morning.  It was the end of month.  She warned me before I left, “Watch your speed and all – the cops are in full swing.”  Generally knowing that they swarm around the 30^th and 31^st, I responded with a hopeful “Yeah, it always happens around now,” and I repeated how I did not want to find myself on the shoulder with a cop in my window.

Her words were stamped in my head as I rounded the busiest part of Stadium Drive in mid-afternoon traffic and encountered multiple police cars waiting for their prey.  Careful as always, I continued on my way and parked at my friend’s house.  “I made it,” I proudly stated with a sigh of relief before locking my car and going in.

After an enjoyable evening, I was ready to enter the jungle of crime and punishment again.  With care, of course.  Since I’m a new driver, I have a legal (and parental) curfew of midnight.  I knew I wouldn’t have trouble meeting this tonight, and I’d be able to do it without speeding.  Once again, I was coasting down Stadium Drive at one mile below the speed limit.  I was off scott-free.  Then, it all came tumbling down.

Adrenaline rushing.  In my head, I asked “Is it for me?”  Then, I asked it out loud.  “Pull over,” I told myself.  Veering to the right and braking, there I was, shaking on the shoulder.  I did everything I knew to do – turned the car off, opened the window, turned my music off.

“May I see your license and registration, please?” he asked.

With my quivering fingers, I slipped the card from my wallet and plucked the white envelope from my glove box.  “What have I done wrong,” I asked in my head.  I knew I wasn’t speeding.  Every law raced a marathon through my poor, young brain.  Everything but the real reason I was pulled over, that is.

“Ah, see the problem is that you’re registration expired in 2008,” the officer said through my window.

I almost wanted to laugh.  I hadn’t done anything wrong!  The registration?  Why ever would that be expired!?  I did what any clueless sixteen-year old would do and called my mom.

“Mom, apparently the registration has expired on the car.  Didn’t we update this, like, two weeks ago?”  We didn’t.  So, I drove away with my heart pounding like a subwoofer.

At home, my parents weren’t too pleased with the hefty $105 fine I received, but hey, it’s their fault for not renewing the car I had just inherited from my sister.  My mom complained that usually, the state will send out a warning 45 days before the registration expires, but that they failed to this time.  In the style of Vonnegut, “so it goes.”

After this experience, I was keen to check my friends’ cars to make sure their registrations were up to date, too.  Surprisingly enough, I found a good amount of cars that were also overdue for tags.

I told them to get on renewing the registration right away in order to avoid owing the state money.  So here’s your chance – check your car, too.

John Sisser