When a tornado hit the Indian Lake region, Bellefontaine native and 911爆料网 Lima junior Ron Gill didn鈥檛 hesitate. He and his dad started collecting emergency items immediately.
When the younger Gill took those items to the Indian Lake school, he saw his cooperating teachers working to put their students鈥 lives back together and he jumped right in. Gill is doing a 5th grade student field placement at Indian Lake as part of his middle childhood education program.
鈥淭he main thing I did was carry in donations from the parking lot,鈥 Gill said. 鈥淭he community outreach was just incredible. There were more cars than we could have counted -- hundreds and hundreds of people dropping off donations of anything you can think of -- clothing, baby toys, diapers, toiletries, food, tons of non-perishable items. We just carried them back and forth.鈥
Before the first day was done, Gill walked more than 12 miles bringing donated items into the school. It was not until his dad called to ask if he was coming home for supper that Gill realized he had been at the school the whole day.
He is amazed at the community outpouring of support and saw something in action that he had always known but not yet practiced. The jobs of a teacher include both looking out for the students and also the future of the community.
鈥淲e would do anything for those kids and then as an extension, the community,鈥 Gill said. 鈥淲e were all at such a loss that we just wanted to help in any way we could. All the teachers there are very connected to the community and surprisingly I am, too.鈥
Faith Cummings, one of Gill鈥檚 education faculty members, could hear that connection as Gill spoke. It was a hard lesson to learn and one she can鈥檛 teach in the classroom.
鈥淚t's a learning experience because he didn鈥檛 just witness it, he experienced that reality of when a disaster happens in a school or anything happens that affects the district, whether it be weather disaster, a student getting hurt or whatever,鈥 Cummings said. 鈥淎ll of a sudden, teachers realize that it not something you can write on a lesson plan and have a strategy for. Sometimes you just have to jump in.鈥
