Jr. Cane Contest Winner Announced!

Sept. 11, 2003

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) —Congrats to Haylee Heyser our Junior Cane Contest Winner for “Celebrate Aging Day.”

Haylee will receive 3 tickets to the East Carolina game where Hurricane Athletics, in conjunction with the Center on Aging, celebrate our more mature fans.

Here is her winning submission:

“Celebrating Aging”
By Haylee Heyser

My Grandparents are better than yours! I’ll bet you anything. Now let me explain why MY Grandparents are the best.

First of all my grandparents names are Jeri and Gene. We call my grandfather Gramps. My grandparents are the best because they are both 72 and are still working full time jobs; Jeri at Nova University and Gramps at an auto tag agency. In their busy schedule they still find time to spend with their grandchildren and children. There are six grandchildren; they are Ryan (15), Darren (15), Drew (14), Haylee (11), Carly (10), and last but not least Sierra (4)!They are very much a part of all of our lives. Like all families we have our problems and they are always the first ones to pitch in and help with what ever is needed. On the fun side we always attend sporting events. We support the Hurricanes, the Heat, the Dolphins and the Panthers. We love our grandparents and they love us.

Now, we all know grandparents spoil their grandkids but how many do you know that spoil there grandkids friends. Well mine do. Jeri and Gramps let us bring our friends to the sports events, to sleep over at their house and they treat our friends to dinner. My grandfather has been known to take a van full of teenage boys to a sporting event all by himself. What a guy! All of my friends want my grandparents to adopt them.

Yes, you could say we are spoiled but in a good way. We respect our grandparents and help them when they need us too. My grandfather recently had hip surgery and we all pitched in the take care of him. We needed him to get better before football season. He is a really big Hurricane fan. He even goes to the away games.

Birthdays are for one on one time with my grandparents. Each one of us gets taken on a vacation for our birthday. Sometimes by ourself and occasionally with another grandchild. One year my grandparents took me to the Bahamas and let me get my hair braided and I tried my 1st strawberry daiquiri, non-alcoholic of course. Another year Ryan, Carly and I went to Orlando. Disney World to be exact. We had a blast! We have also gone snow skiing as a family and to Las Vegas. My bother is lucky because he gets to go to an away Hurricane football game because his birthday is in September.

Do you know someone who is never too busy or too tired to help with what ever is needed? I do. My grandfather. He could be retired and enjoying life. But instead he still works to help support his family. My grandparents do not miss an event in any of our lives. They are always willing to change their schedule in order to attend one of their grandchildren’s events. We keep them busy. You could say that we all are a full time job.

You may think that I am bragging but anyone my grandfather comes in contact with will describe him as I have. He has a heart of gold and helps everyone he comes in contact with. Everyone loves him in return.