January/February, 2008 FORUM Article

 Highlighted Resources:
• Guidance for Extended School Year Services

One Parent Mentor's "Sunny" Experience

by Kim Dennison

When I was parent mentor about 12 years ago, I used to have the teachers nominate a student of the month each month. At the end of the year we would have a little celebration for the kids with cake, punch and door prizes for everyone. I would usually get someone to come from our local TV station to talk with the kids. We have a Chief Meteorologist on our local station that has been there for years and he attended the first one that I had.

There was a little boy in the LD class in one of the buildings that was nominated that year. He loved everything to do with the weather so that year he got to come to the year end celebration and meet Tony Cavalier, the weather man from our area. That is all this young boy talked about, it was his passion. He even gave the weather with the morning announcements on the PA system each day at school.

Well, he is now working as a Meteorologist at the same TV station in our area where Tony Cavalier worked! I am so excited for this young man. I have always had a special place in my heart for him because he was so determined to do what he wanted, and he succeeded. He made his first appearance on our local station this past weekend. What a success! Previously, he was working at a station in Beckley, West Virginia but took this position now to be closer to home. He was the youngest Chief Meteorologist in the country when he started in Beckley.

I e-mailed him to tell him how proud I was of him. He said he would never forget that night and meeting Tony Cavalier, and that it seemed like yesterday. He goes to schools in the area and tells the students, 'it doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, or what resources are available, never let anyone tell you that you can't do something because you can and I am proof of that.'