Monday, May 13, 2013

Do You Believe in Miracles?

If you are well connected to our school community, you know that we lost one of our own late last week. Susan "Suzie" Wolfram, a volunteer and teacher aide at Stonehedge Elementary School, passed away from breast cancer. Sue was certainly an amazing person. She worked in the Stonehedge Blue Cafeteria, always wore a smile, had a funny story to share, and was heavily involved in the girls lacrosse program and Stonehedge PTA.

Last Thursday at the girl's JV and Varsity lacrosse games, a fundraiser was held for Sue. In between the two games, we received word that she had passed away. Within a minute of hearing the news, a double rainbow appeared over our turf field. Simply amazing! She will be truly missed in our community.

In my opinion, Charlie Miller from the Post Standard wrote the best piece about her life... click here to read it. Suzie would want us to celebrate the things we have and try to help those who need help. A true class act.

We experienced another miracle a week before in our high school. A 40 year old teacher went into full cardiac arrest at the end of the day on a Friday. He was found by a past graduate who stopped by to see this teacher. He summoned a nearby teacher and the nurse who immediately started CPR. Soon Camillus Police, Fairmount Fire, and WAVES Ambulance appeared to administer the AED on him. He was transported to the hospital where he is recovering. If that former student didn't stop to see him, we would be working through another loss. Simply incredible. A huge thank you to our school nurse, Camillus Police, Fairmount Fire Department, and WAVES Ambulance.

I have seen a lot in my fourteen years as Superintendent, but one thing that never gets old is the POWER of COMMUNITY. Our community can do some amazing things when the going gets tough and people need help. I am very proud to live and work here. Take some time this week to thank people who have helped you. Take some time this week to help someone else. Surprise someone with a random act of kindness!

I will get back to writing about testing, bus runs, graduation, awards nights, and concerts next week. There are other things to think about this week.

See you soon!

Chris