Fayette Christian School fourth grade students recently published a book called, “Poetry Unmasked,” and dedicated it to those in the community who help to keep everyone safe each and every day.
On Friday, fourth graders at Fayette Christian School held an event to honor every day heroes and show-off their recently published book of poetry. The event was held at the school with Fayette County Memorial Hospital Medical Director Dr. Emily Johnson, Fayette County Public Health Deputy Health Commissioner Leigh Cannon, Concord-Green Township Volunteer Fire Department Captain Jeff Skaggs, and Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth attending.
“The kids wrote poems about our community COVID heroes,” Fourth grade teacher Kristin Crichton said. “The dedication page (of the book) reads, ‘To our healthcare personnel and all of the first responders and essential workers who kept the world running during the pandemic. We personally know and love many of these doctors, nurses, police, military personnel, government leaders and all others who served us during very uncertain days.’”
Several students then took time to read their poetry to the guests. The poems were written in the cinquain style which includes five lines that has to have a noun on the first line, adjectives in the second line that describe the noun, an action in the third line, a long description of the noun in the fourth line and finally a noun that relates to the first noun used.
Following this style, the students wrote about the various heroes including their parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends who are doctors and nurses, police and deputies, fire fighters, healthcare employees and more.
Following the poetry, each guest was asked to explain what they do for the community. Cannon thanked the students for keeping everyone in their thoughts while explaining what the health department does for the community, Stanforth encouraged the students to continue to read and learn the truth in all situations and Skaggs explained what he does as a fire fighter, a role with many jobs in the county.
“This last year has been a long year for me, and I know of many others who feel the same way, but I think it has been a really wonderful year where we have worked as a team,” Dr. Johnson said. “I know a lot of people had to solve problems that we didn’t think we would have to solve. We had friends that were able to support us, pray for us. I know that all of (the students) have been praying for us so that is really special, but there were a lot of problems we had to solve differently. None of us had been through a pandemic, so we were scared, but we were so happy that we are able to keep our community healthy because that is a real honor for us. It meant a lot of long hours and nights, but that is why we go into the profession, because we want to care for people and serve people. I want to thank all of you because I know a lot of prayers were prayed over our healthcare folks.”
Finally, students and the guests enjoyed some refreshments while the students shared cards they made for those in attendance.
Reach Martin Graham at 740-463-9684 or on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy.
