OPINION: 'We bring the community to you'
Nov. 16—This is why I do this job.
What looked like it might be a quiet Friday turned into quite a whirlwind tour.
It was Veterans Day, so I knew there were a number of programs going on at the different schools. I had my day mapped out, but threw in a couple of other stops along the way.
I started covering the event at the Monroeville Local Schools.
There they celebrated the 19th anniversary of the first presentation of a Quilt of Valor. That first quilt was given to a young soldier from Minnesota who had lost his leg while serving in Iraq.
Catherine Roberts, the mother of a deployed soldier and the organizer of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, told this young man that while she knew it could not replace his leg, her hope was that the quilt would provide him with comfort and healing.
On behalf of the Quilts of Valor Foundation and the Monroeville School Community, the following individuals were presented with their Quilt of Valor.
—Bob Good
Ohio Army National Guard
1966 — 1972
—Charlene Margetiak
Army Security Agency
October 1972 — January, 1976
—John Metarko
US Army
1970s
—Sylvia Parsons
Sgt USAR disabled veteran 1991 — 2001
—Scott Parsons (Not able to attend)
Cpl USMC disabled veteran
1991 — 1997
(Scott Parsons, along the four other local veterans, received quilts in private ceremonies this weekend).
From there I stopped at Norwalk High School, where veterans were introduced and entertained with music from the choir.
After that it was a stop at Edison Elementary School in Milan where the gym was packed with students, parents and veterans.
And the group got a special treat with songs performed by The Divots, a local band that played along and sang with with the students.
One of the performers, Mel Holida, played as his two grandchildren — Millie Chase and Vivian Berry — sat there front and center with their Papa.
I changed gears after that with a stop to Pleasant Elementary — and a little lesson in music.
Jody Chaffee, a Firelands Symphony Orchestra musician, visited the school and demonstrated the construction and sound production of musical instruments.
Students learned how to create string instruments out of a box and rubber bands, create various pitches from water bottles with different amounts of water in them, tuned water glasses like keyboard percussion instruments, and each student received a plastic shaker to take home.
After that it was back on the veterans trail with a stop at Main Street School where veterans again were introduced and entertained with music from the choir.
Before heading back to the office I made a stop at First United Methodist Church on Main Street where some 50-plus students from Pleasant Elementary were attending Lifewise Academy.
Lifewise Academy "provides Bible-based character education for public school students during school hours," according to the program's website.
It is offered to students who have a parent's permission and is presented during the school day in an off-campus site funded with private money.
It costs the schools nothing and is allowable by law through the concept of Released Time Religious Instruction (RTRI), which has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
There were about 10 students in each classroom and they all seemed to be having fun while learning about the Bible.
You can read more about the program later this week.
This is a community newspaper and that's what we do — cover the community. And to do that you have to get out into the community — not sit back behind a desk hoping the news comes to you.
That's what makes the Norwalk Reflector and all community newspapers special.
We bring the community to you.
Joe Centers is Reflector community editor. He can be reached at jcenters@norwalkreflector.com.
