by Ann Wittman, ACS Teacher
This summer (actually the day after graduation) my son was in a terrible car accident. It involved two vehicles and eight people. The state trooper who was second on the scene said it was a miracle that no one was killed. He said ‘I have never seen an accident this bad with no mortality and no paralysis’. My son came away from the accident with multiple injuries: brain trauma, a broken jaw (in two places), broken spine, 3 bowel resections, among others. He spent just short of 5 weeks in the hospital and lost over 20 pounds. Yet when physical therapy started working with him they were very impressed with his strength and how quickly he improved his condition. I thought about his last year here at ACS and how Mrs. Grogan not only taught the 7th and 8th graders how to use the weight room equipment, but also made it available to them in the mornings prior to school. For the past year Tekoa worked out in the weight room two days each week, strengthening the full circuit of muscles. I am convinced that this is a large part of why the physical therapists were so impressed – how prepared his body was and also the year-long mindset of pressing on toward the goal. I also personally believe that this was a provision from God to prepare my son for this battle.
I want to thank Mrs. Grogan and ACS for opening the weight room for use by the students and Mr. Lingnofski and Mrs. Marnocha who were willing to be there to supervise those early mornings. I would also like to encourage the parents of the 7th and 8th graders to allow/encourage their children to work out and also to volunteer to be those early morning supervisors.
