Surviving hardships, then
giving back
By Katherine Perreth
Middleton Times-Tribune
At age 16, Middleton resident John Morikis is well on his way to
leaving a greater mark on life than life has left on him.
After experiencing hardships few local teens could imagine, the
young Edgewood High School student has cultivated empathy for
others. Natives of Medellin, Columbia, Morikis, and his brother Nico
have only lived in the United States for three and a half years,
since being adopted.
Morikis was recently awarded first prize for designing an original
poster to promote AIDS awareness.
HIVictorious, a non-profit Madison organization dedicated to AIDS
education and awareness, sponsored the local competition.
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| John Morikis coming up
to receive his award at Edgewood High School |
According to
Bob Bowers, Founder and President of
HIVictorious, there were 140 submissions at Edgewood and
the entire freshman class participated. Morikis didn’t know he was
even in contention as a place winner until his name was read first
by Bowers, at the high school’s student body assembly for World AIDS
Day.
Morikis’ parents didn’t know anything other than, “he drew a picture
at home for a competition” until he came home that day with framed
letters of congratulations from Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and
United States Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.
In addition, his entry had also been framed and presented to him,
along with a $100 gift card and a letter from Bowers stating, “There
is no doubt that your winning poster will inspire many – as it has
us.”
“We’re so proud of him,” said Bowers. “He did an amazing job and I’m
glad he’s getting the recognition he deserves.”
As Edgewood’s winner, Morikis’ posters will be displayed throughout
Dane County during the summer of 2011. He will also meet with
Cieslewicz and Baldwin sometime next year.
The competition asked students to answer the question, “What if it
were you?”
Morikis said one evening, after finishing his homework, he sat and
thought about the query.
Drawing from his own life in Colombia, he though: “I would fight.”
That quickly morphed into “I would fight with hope.”
He considered using the word “courage” but decided against it.
“Courage didn’t make sense. They are two different words,” he
explained. “Hope is like you keep doing it and doing it and one day
this is going to pay off.”
“Before they had even heard of us, or met us, John had always hoped
that he’d find an adoptive family, something better for him and his
brother,” said his adoptive father, Nick.
For seven years, Morikis and his sibling had bounced around in
foster families and orphanages. They had no permanent family during
that time until Nick and Sue Morikis came into their lives.
When his parents were in Colombia finalizing the adoptions, it was
during March Madness 2007. According to Morikis’ mom, the boys’
English level, as expected, was “nil.”
“We were listening on a computer to Lucas and Lepay calling the
Badgers in the NCAA tournament, and by the end of the two hour game
the boys could tell who was scoring, the Badgers or the other team,”
explained Nick.
“They’d yell, ‘Go Badgers!’ with their cute little accents,” Sue
recalled.
Morikis has come a long way linguistically since his first spoken
English words.
As a freshman, he no longer requires ESL assistance: his English
level is high enough that he takes standard freshman courses,
including freshman English. He put his English to good use this past
fall in designing the winning poster.
Using mostly primary colors, arrows, stars and other shapes, he
formed the statement: “I would fight with hope.” At the end the word
‘hope,’ Morikis placed a set of wings with the red AIDS ribbon
overlaid.
 |
|
John
Morikis discussing his poster with Edgewood High School
students |
“Like flying,” he explained. “Hope lifting.”
“I like art and to draw my name in different shapes,” he said. “My
friend snowboards and draws crazy stuff, so I drew [the poster] with
arrows, stars, AIDS ribbons and wings.”
Despite living through three Wisconsin winters and meeting
snowboarding friends, Morikis conceded just “one day” of snow is
good. Medellin is seventy degrees year round, according to Sue. She
related that her boys’ first day of school in Middleton was
cancelled due to a freak April snowstorm.
“It was the first time they’d ever seen snow,” she said. “We have a
picture of the boys with kids in the neighborhood and the snowman
they built.”
Asked if there was anything else he’d like to say, Morikis
confidently said he had a message to convey: “Those
people fighting
AIDS that never give up, we can find a cure to get rid of the
disease. I fought with hope once and my prayers came true – they
were answered. If they keep fighting like I did with hope, one day
their prayers can be answered.” |
