Haggerty school career day and me

I was recently invited to talk about my journalism career with Mrs. Cathy Cutting's fifth-grade class at Haggerty Elementary School.

They're nice people there at Haggerty. I received a cheery hello from the school secretary Stephanie Karlinski, and I chatted with Principal Aleisa Pitt for a few moments, before walking down the long hallway toward Mrs. Cutting's classroom.

Haggerty school will close in June, one of two elementary schools in the district slated to close, and students, teachers and staff will find themselves elsewhere come September. Probably a few already know where they're headed, but when you break up a team that is several hundred people working together each day toward a clear, shared goal, it will take a little while to get up that head of steam again. But I have no doubt that they'll do it, as will the team at Elwell School.

As I arrived in the classroom about 10 minutes early, I was warmly greeted by teacher and students. I walked to the front of the classroom, and began talking about myself. My wife has gently suggested to me more than once that I am a bit loquacious about myself , and particularly about my reporting job, so I was enjoying myself.

I brought business cards and a few copies of The View to illustrate what I do, and told the kids about writing, fairness in reporting, and working hard to get it right. I told them about my younger days and my interest in reading and words, and my short-lived experience as the fair-haired child at Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary in Syracuse, N.Y., as the school's best speller for three years running.

The students asked questions, and then we set to work on their assignment. I had taken a column that I wrote a few weeks ago about preparing to visit my two-year-old grandson Noah, and the amount of stuff that Amma (my wife Jan) and Pa (me) bring to Noah.

I had introduced into the column about 20 spelling and grammar errors. I read one paragraph at a time, and the kids raised their hands, ready to identify my mistakes. They did very well. I had highlighted for myself most of the errors, but they found about five more that I had missed.

Hands shot up throughout the classroom. Many students raised their hands more than once, and it was great fun working with them. After the exercise, I talked a bit more, they asked another question or two, and I took my leave. They applauded and thanked me.

As I walked to the parking lot to return home, I was on Cloud Nine. But that's the way it is when I visit these schools. It's usually not about me so much, as it is about the mission and the very human faces who push each other each day to get a little better, to learn a little more. It is, in  a word, thrilling.

Now let's see if they (or you) can find any errors in this blog post.