By Jack Wilson
Lonely, crippled, and addicted to video games are all adjectives an onlooker might use at a first glance of Doug Berardi’s life.
After a deeper look, it becomes obvious that Doug Berardi is not the open book many know him as but more like a complex tale of ups and downs.
“Probably getting injured, recently I’ve just been getting injured constantly.. It’s probably one of my biggest strengths”, Doug’s recent injuries have tainted his senior year subtracting from his social life and participation of sports.
In early April of 2018 Doug broke his hip from a fall during senior assassin after being chased by his assassin.
“If I could tell my freshman year self one thing I would tell him, ‘senior assassin – second day, Hunter Daly will be under your porch… be ready”.
In the next few months Doug is looking forward to being able to walk without crutches and he cannot wait to return to his social life.
“If I hadn’t gotten injured I think the parties would be different this year, I missed out on a lot of my social life”.
Doug’s friends play a big role in his life and recently they have stepped up to take care of him while he is injured.
“My friends give me support, they come over, they do the needs I can’t do like get blankets and tissues for me.. They wipe my nose sometimes”.
Doug is like a race horse with a broken leg. In his past he shined in sports for Oliver Ames such as football, wrestling and lacrosse.
“I played football, I gave up on it because i kept getting injured. I stuck with wrestling but I got injured my last year of wrestling. I never got injured in Lacrosse because I didn’t make it to Lacrosse season this year”.
Doug has always loved the outdoors and playing basketball with his friends, although recently he has perfected his fortnite skills and couch sitting endurance.
“If you want to be as good as I am at fortnite, you have to build for defense, you have to be the aggressor and always send for gold scar”.
A perfect day in Doug’s life includes playing fortnite nice and early in the morning of a summers day, then going to get breakfast followed by a shower and some more good food. He then would want to hang out with his friends and later go to a party.
“If I could throw a huge banger it would include apple juice luges, giant orange juice kegs with the cranberry juice shots and lot’s of water pong.”
Doug sat in his basement on the couch in his favorite spot – right in the middle in front of the tv with a blanket draped around him while his little sister, Lauren, sat by and listened.
“Growing up I think I got in a lot of fights with Eric, he was kind of a pest and everything he did was for himself and he would say things like ‘You’re forcing’, and things would get physical. Nowadays we don’t really fight, unless it’s Lauren acting up”.
Doug reminisced about his experience in high school at Oliver Ames, thinking about the good times and the bad.
“One of my favorite memories from high school goes back to freshman year when I had Mr.Schussler as a teacher and he started calling me Shorty Hawkins, the whole class started calling me that and I still don’t know who that is – but I feel honored.”
Doug was a close runner up at the Mr.Easton contest with over a hundred dollars in his box but without the judges votes on his side.
After graduation Doug has some big plans for his future and all he is waiting for is to be clear of injuries before he begins work for his Dad this summer.
“After high school I want to become a plumber, I am inspired to go into plumbing because my Dad works in the union”
In the next ten years Doug aspires to climb Mount Everest, it has always been a dream of his and he has trained by climbing trees throughout his childhood and high school career.