Untold Stories:
Forgotten Voices
in History
Ravenclaw

Ravenclaw Untold Stories

Story by Bilal Yousaf

Kenneth S. Washington
Football Player

Kenneth always loved playing football and he worked hard to make sure everyone could play, regardless of the color of their skin.

Kenneth Washington was born on August 31, 1918. Growing up, his grandmother raised him, while his father played baseball. From an early age, Kenneth was a natural athlete.

After high school, Kenneth went to UCLA and played football. In 1940 he was part of the College All-Star game and was said to be “one of the most brilliant players”.

In football, his position was a tailback and he often passed as much as he rushed. Washington rushed for 9,975 yards, a school record for 56 years. 

Even though he was one of the best college football players, he had trouble making it in the NFL. He eventually signed a contract with the Los Angelos Rams, making him the first African American to sign a contract with the NFL.

Even though people told him he wouldn’t be able to play professional football because of the color of his skin, he did not listen. He worked hard and broke down the barriers. He helped to inspire kids to follow their dreams and reminded them that they can have a voice. 

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 Something beautiful about waking up before everyone is to get better at what we love.

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Story by: Brayan Gonzalez Gonzalez

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Missy Franklin became the first woman to qualify for seven “Olympic” events, and one of the first female swimmer to win six gold medals in a single event of the ‘World Championships.  

Missy was born on May 10, 1995, in Pasadena, California. She is the only child of Dick and D A Franklin. She was 5 years old when she had her first swimming lesson, and she became part of the ‘Colorado Stars’ travel swim team at the age of 7 and soon discovered her passion for swimming. She was in the pool every day!

On May, 10th, 2014, at the US World Championship Trials, Missy Franklin broke her own national record by clocking 2:05.10 in the final of the 200-meter backstroke event. This was also Franklin’s first individual world title.

Franklin strongly believes in God and has accepted that she often converses with God. Although she is a world-class swimmer, Missy wishes to study broadcast journalism and has earned a degree in psychology. Franklin married Hayes Johnson, and they are waiting for their first child in August 2021.

 Missy Franklin is a great swimmer and she made a lot of records. Since then, Franklin has been active on many charities including being a USA Swimming Foundation ambassador and a Laureus Academy member. However, her time in the pool is now characterized by merely short stints here and there, which is as much as her injured body can handle in retirement. 

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Missy Franklin Johnson

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Missy Franklin became the first woman to qualify for seven “Olympic” events, and one of the first female swimmer to win six gold medals in a single event of the ‘World Championships.  

Missy was born on May 10, 1995, in Pasadena, California. She is the only child of Dick and D A Franklin. She was 5 years old when she had her first swimming lesson, and she became part of the ‘Colorado Stars’ travel swim team at the age of 7 and soon discovered her passion for swimming. She was in the pool every day!

On May, 10th, 2014, at the US World Championship Trials, Missy Franklin broke her own national record by clocking 2:05.10 in the final of the 200-meter backstroke event. This was also Franklin’s first individual world title.

Franklin strongly believes in God and has accepted that she often converses with God. Although she is a world-class swimmer, Missy wishes to study broadcast journalism and has earned a degree in psychology. Franklin married Hayes Johnson, and they are waiting for their first child in August 2021.

 Missy Franklin is a great swimmer and she made a lot of records. Since then, Franklin has been active on many charities including being a USA Swimming Foundation ambassador and a Laureus Academy member. However, her time in the pool is now characterized by merely short stints here and there, which is as much as her injured body can handle in retirement. 

Story by Emerson Navas

Nils Bohlin
Inventor

Once upon a time, there was a boy who loved to tinker and invent things. 

His name was Nils Bohlin. He was born on July 17, 1920, in Härnösand, Sweden. He grew up, went to school, and graduated from high school. He still wanted to invent things, so he went to college to graduate as an engineer. 

After he graduated from college he started to work for Volvo as a safety engineer.

When someone that worked at Volvo had a car crash, he got hurt by an old seat belt, Nils was told to create a better design for seat belts, and after 1 year he came up with the design that after was created and patented as the Three-point seat belt.

Nils Bohlin should be remembered for saving millions of lives with his invention, the Three-point seatbelt.

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Alan Ituriel who wanted to create his own cartoon show about villains. He knew that people like to see the unusual, weird, and dangerous, and that's how he created his main character.

Alan was born in Mexico and when he was small he really liked the villain characters in the cartoons, then he wanted to create his own cartoon about a villain that could not be defeated.

Something that helped him was his family and friends. They liked the characters he drew and the stories he would tell about them. With their encouragement, he knew he may have a future in animation.

Alan’s show “Villainous” debuted on the Cartoon Network on September 6, 2016. The show’s original language is Spanish and was then translated for English audiences. It is really fun to watch, it shows us the life of villains and what they do every day. Alan did an awesome job with the story, characters, and voices all of their work is amazing.

He shows to not give up on what you want to achieve in life and to work hard and never give up, there will be some difficulties and moments that you think you will not make it but just keep going you will see how you make a change in others.

story by: Febe Sandoval

Alan Ituriel

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Alan Ituriel who wanted to create his own cartoon show about villains. He knew that people like to see the unusual, weird, and dangerous, and that's how he created his main character.

Alan was born in Mexico and when he was small he really liked the villain characters in the cartoons, then he wanted to create his own cartoon about a villain that could not be defeated.

Something that helped him was his family and friends. They liked the characters he drew and the stories he would tell about them. With their encouragement, he knew he may have a future in animation.

Alan’s show “Villainous” debuted on the Cartoon Network on September 6, 2016. The show’s original language is Spanish and was then translated for English audiences. It is really fun to watch, it shows us the life of villains and what they do every day. Alan did an awesome job with the story, characters, and voices all of their work is amazing.

He shows to not give up on what you want to achieve in life and to work hard and never give up, there will be some difficulties and moments that you think you will not make it but just keep going you will see how you make a change in others.

Animator

Malala Yousafzai
Women's Education Activist

Story by Gabriel Miles

“One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book could change the world.” This is something Malala Yousafzai knew and she is now one of the most significant leaders for feminism and voice in educating girls around the world. This was all because her father cared about her education despite what everyone else does. 

Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997 in Pakistan, where at the time, girls were often denied the right to go to school, so her father started an all-girls school in Pakistan to have an education that inspired her. She loved her education, so she became an activist for women's education when she grew older. Her popularity would grow really big as the years went by.

Her activism would grow big, but too big. How big? She ended up becoming a target to the Taliban for violation of education laws. One day she was attacked by the Taliban. There was an assassination attempt against her. She was sent to Birmingham, UK, where she had surgery to fix her head. Luckily, she survived and began fighting for education rights again and continued to grow popular. In 2014, she started a fund that is still earning money to this day, She also gave education rights to women in 8 countries as of 2021 and that number is growing. She is currently alive and doing well and is still seen as an international icon for women’s education. Malala said

“Some people only ask others to do something. I believe that, why should I wait for someone else? Why don't I take a step and move forward?”