Celebrating Who We Are

This week the Delaware State Education Association held its annual Human and Civil Rights Awards at the Sheraton Hotel in Dover. Lake Forest was well represented.


There are student competitions in computer graphics, art and writing. Of the 23 awards handed out, students from Lake Forest won 10 of them - pretty good for a contest that is open to the whole state.

I always enjoy this event. It is a celebration of diversity. It is a way of reinforcing with our kids that many people suffered ahead of them, so that they would be free. Go to school free with freedom to choose their future. They study and write about Martin Luther King and Gandhi. They study and write about the Holocaust. They study and write about many of the little events of American history, where average people showed uncommon bravery to advocate for change.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. For a rural community, we seem to be quite diverse. Among our Lake Forest award winners at this event you find black, Hispanic, Asian, white and bi-racial students. They are all happy. They are all getting a good education. They have friends of all colors.

Among the state-wide winners there were a couple of physically handicapped students who needed assistance getting on and off the stage. The underlying message and theme of the event , “We Are One, We Are Many” is not lost on the children. They embrace each other and their differences. We’re all humans. Each of us is unique. Together we make up a community. Together we are stronger.  We are all Spartans.

Thanks to Lake Forest High School Social Studies teacher Amy Reed for her dedication to this event and to the work of the Lake Forest Education Association. She makes sure we are in the competition each year and never fails to coach several into the top three. Thanks also to North teachers Pablo Reyes and Todd Weller. The students of North are always in the trophy class as well.

This is just another example of how Lake Forest Schools help to shape our future.