A rose to Melanie Ford, health sciences and medical professions teacher at McKellar Technology Center, who was named the 2012-2013 Columbus Municipal School District Teacher of the Year last week. Prior to becoming an educator in 2001, Ford worked as a registered nurse. She continues to work as a registered nurse at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. We believe teachers who have practical experience in the fields they teach are of immeasurable value to students. There is likely no better of example of this than Ford, who has led the health sciences students to the top of the class, with her students scoring in the top 10th percentile in the state on the statewide comprehensive Career Planning and Assessment System test (CPAS) since she began teaching in 2001.
A rose to the more than 200 children who graciously shared their “Letters to Santa” with Dispatch readers in the Christmas Eve edition. We will give Old St. Nick a rose, too. Based on the letters, it was clear that there was an abundance of “nice” and a scarcity of “naughty” on this year’s list, which made for a busy, busy night for the jolly old boy.
A rose to the staff and volunteers at the Columbus Air Force Base Airman and Family Readiness Center, who spent hours making very personal and very “huggable” pillows for the children and spouses of military members being deployed far from home. The idea was simple: A full-length photo of the deployed service member is transferred to cloth, which is then used as the fabric for the pillow. It’s hard to imagine a better gift for the loved ones of our military members. This is an idea that is certain to become a sensation, we predict.
A thorn to Silicor officials, who remain silent on whether they will accept the terms imposed on the company by the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors earlier this month. After months of inactivity on the part of Silicor, which announced with great fanfare ambitious plans for building a major facility in the county, the supervisors rightly presented the company with an ultimatum: Put up $150,000 in escrow to show it means business by midnight, Dec. 31 or forfeit the $19 million in incentives from the board of supervisors. Silicor, which has consistently missed deadlines connected to the project, remains silent, even as the deadline approaches. Maybe Silicor’s silence says it all.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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