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Ania Valdez Guajardo: A Rising Star In 3D ArtistryBy Sally KalosAnia Valdez Guajardo, a senior at Ronald Reagan High School, has an unparalleled passion for art. She recently scored perfectly on the Advanced Placement (AP) 3-D Art and Design Exam. To emphasize, only 52 students globally achieved this, making her feat extraordinary.For the AP Exam in May, Ania completed five projects. Despite her doubts about getting a top score, she remarked,“A perfect score wasn’t on my radar.” She added, “I thought they had the wrong student! But it made everything worth it.”Reagan High’s principal, Dr. Charles Reininger, celebrated her, saying, “Her hard work is evident. We’re excited for her future endeavors.”Ania’s 3D art journey began a year ago, but she’s always been creative. Her focus? Hands. Ania explained it was inspired by a tiny feather she once observed, compelling her to capture that tranquillity through hands. One such piece even triumphed in the VASE competition. Her materials include mold molding and cast casting materials from Hobby Lobby and wooden planks from Lowe’s. Speaking of her favorite piece, she said, “Currently, it’s the one with rusted metal, mainly because I used my dad’s hands for it, adding a sentimental touch.”Ania envisions art in her future, musing about an Etsy shop with her family’s creations. On her preference for 3D art, she shared, “It offers immense creative liberty.” However, she’s diverse in her artistry, saying, “I’m keen on trying various mediums, but I especially like the pen and watercolor mix.”Ania Valdez Guajardo, ArtistSquatters---A Growing ProblemPart 1 Of A Multi-Part Series On SquattersBy Lou Duggan“InTexasahomeownersaysshe was locked out of her house by a squatter who claimed to have a lease after moving to the state with her family (the woman previously had been evicted from three other homes),” wrote Jonathan Turley, Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School, in USA Today in July. “In Maryland, a woman returned from vacation to find two squatters in her bed. They were not only living in her house but also sold about $50,000 of her furniture. It is a pattern being played out in many cities in the UnitedStates.”Texas law describes a squatter as aperson who knowingly and intentionally enters and remains in another person’s home without the owner’s effective consent with the intent to deprive the owner of possession of the property.Squatting is increasing and becoming more common according to Dr. David Phelps, a financial expert based in Dallas and founderof the real estate investing community Freedom Founders. In May, Phelps told FOX Business LIFESTYLE that “property owners are more likely to encounter squatters — and they’re more likely to encounter the ones who are going to cause even bigger problems,” he said.Phelps suggests that “societal shifting” has become a major rationalization for squatters. “There’s a growing sense of entitlement where people feel like they deserve whatever they want, even when they don’t put in the work necessary to earn it,” Phelps said. “When you couple that with the lack of accountability that’s become more common lately, it’s easy to see why [people] feel emboldened to walk in and take over a property that isn’t theirs,” he added.“Squatters are never pleasant to deal with and they are expensive to evict,” Phelps said. “And, in most squatter situations, property damage occurs....squatters often destroy the house in the process. I’ve seenwalls destroyed, wires and pipes cut, toilets filled with cement and so many other devastating actions taken that cost the property owner thousands of dollars to repair.”Turley adds in his USA Today article that “property owners are told that they must continue to pay taxes and other costs for their property, (while) squattersdelay any final (eviction) orders through failures to appear, changes of counsel and other practices. The people involved are committing crimes,” he wrote, “from breaking and entering to fraud to forgery. Yet, they are rarely prosecuted.”Next Month: Squatters---Legal System Broken12www.stoneoakhighlights.comNovember 2023