Photo by Tom Rivers: This sign promotes an Easter egg hunt in Albion at the Courthouse lawn from 1 to 3 p.m. on April 9.

Albion and Medina are both planning Easter Egg hunts and activities on April 9.

Several Albion businesses will join in an Easter Hop for April 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. where children can get an Easter basket for free at Toyz n Kandy, Pretty Sweet Bakery and Bloom’s Flower Shop. From there the kids can stop at 15 different businesses that will be giving an Easter treat. DK Auto Body also is sponsoring face-painting at The Coffee Joint.

Then from 1 to 3 p.m. there will be an Easter egg hunt on the Courthouse lawn. That is being organized by the Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries, a church that meets at the Arnold Gregory Office Complex.

In medina, the Medina Area Partnership will have an Easter Bunny and Golden Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Easter Bunny will also be at the Santa House in Rotary Park that day from noon to 2 p.m. giving away chocolate suckers.

There will be golden Easter eggs in the windows of several downtown businesses, as well as special eggs hidden up high in the stores.

ALBION – A volunteer fair on April 7 will give residents a chance to meet with local organizations to see where they can fit and serve to help the groups with their mission in the local community.

At least seven organizations have already committed to being at the fair at Hoag Library from 2 to 4 p.m. and more are welcome. Groups unable to be there in person can be part of a volunteering directory.

The volunteer fair is being organized by the Albion Rotary Club. There also will be a cake available celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the Rotary Club. Other service organizations are welcome to attend the volunteer fair and promote membership in their clubs.

For more information about being part of the volunteer fair, contact Albion Rotary through its Facebook page or email Robert Batt at rpb23@cornell.edu.

“So many Orleans County organizations are able to have the impact they do because our friends and neighbors are willing to volunteer and contribute,” said Batt, who is executive director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Orleans County. “We hope this event and the volunteer opportunity directory will be a good way to help connect those looking to help and organizations looking for a hand.”

Some of the organizations that have committed to being at the fair so far include Community Action, the Cobblestone Museum, Supportive Care of Orleans (Hospice), Cornell Cooperative Extension, American Legion, Orleans County YMCA and Albion Rotary.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Cassie Dash, left, smiles with her friend Angie Wolfe at a benefit on Saturday at the QWL building to support Dash and her family while she is unable to work due to multiple sclerosis.

Dash was working the past six years as a secretary at the Ronald L. Sodoma Elementary School. Wolfe is a kindergarten teacher at the school.

“She is amazing with the kids,” Wolfe said. “She treats them as her own.”

There was a big turnout at the spaghetti dinner and basket raffle, especially among school employees, including Principal Angela Conway and Assistant Principal Kevin Beaumont.

Dash recently completed chemotherapy to try to stave off MS.

Cassie Schmoske, left, and Mindy Kenward stir the sauce and meatballs for the spaghetti dinners. In back, Matt and Rhonda Grammatico serve the spaghetti.

Dash’s brother Zach Conn and sister Brianna Daniels also helped in the kitchen.

Schmoske, Angie Wolfe and Tami Neal were the lead organizers for the benefit which included 300 spaghetti dinners and about 125 baskets up for raffle.

Dash said she appreciated the support from the community.

“To feel this amount of love and support is just incredible,” she said. “I’ve cried 50 times today.”

Grade levels throughout the district as well as many community members donated baskets for the raffle. More than 1,000 tickets were sold for the raffle.

Photo and press release, Albion Central School

ALBION – Charles D’Amico High School is once again honored to be a recipient in the Exxon Mobil Educational Alliance program.

The school received $500 from the company while the Crosby-Reid Petroleum Company matched the $500 award and presented the check to Principal Jennifer Ashbery and Superintendent of Schools Mickey Edwards this week.

The Exxon Mobil Educational Alliance funds math and science programs across the nation to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to schools in need.

In the past, money given through the program has been used towards Python technologies for classes working on coding and robotics.

“We are so appreciative,” Ashbery said. “Every year it is a great surprise. Those funds are put to use to promote STEM in the classroom. It is very exciting.”

ALBION – An audit form the State Comptroller’s Office is critical of Albion Central School for building a reserve or fund balance that is $17 million beyond the statutory limit.

The comptroller’s office said the district routinely underspent its budgets by $5 million to $6 million during the school years of 2017-18 to 2020-21.

The comptroller’s audit, released publicly today, said the board the district officials “did not adopt realistic budgets and did not properly manage fund balance and reserves.

The audit’s key findings for the school district also include:

• Overestimated appropriations by a total of $24 million from 2017-18 through 2020-21.
• Overfunded and did not properly use the retirement contribution reserve fund. That post-employment benefit reserve was overfunded by $11 million. That fund needs $4.8 million, but Albion has $15.8 million retained in this reserve, which is sufficient to cover more than six years of the retirement expenditures
• Could not explain how the Finance Committee participated in the budgeting process or identify what reports the Committee receives or how they are reviewed.
• The District’s budgeting practice of overestimating appropriations resulted in the District levying more real property taxes than needed and resulted in the accumulation of surplus fund balance in excess of the statutory limit by $17.3 million or 47 percentage points.

In a letter to the comptroller’s office dated Feb. 14, Board of Education President Kathy Harling said the district has only increased taxes by 0.14 percent since 2012, and has built up reserves to protect from swings in state aid. (The district hasn’t increased taxes in 13 of the past 15 years and has the lowest tax rate among the five school districts in Orleans County.)

Harling said the state covers about 80 percent of the district’s budget. Albion has also used some of the funds to pay off debt, saving millions of dollars in interest payments, she said.

“The Board of Education is committed to improving its operations and looks forward to comparable successes over the next decade,” she wrote in the letter.

She said the board accepts the report and will work to identify strategies to reduce costs and “strengthen controls in order to safeguard assets.” Implementing a corrective plan is consistent with the district values — “committed to continuous growth and improvement,” she said. “On behalf of our District, I extend our appreciation to you for your insight and recommendations.”

The district’s budget for 2020-21 was $36.8 million. The statutory limit for the fund balance is 4 percent of the budget or about $1.5 million. Albion, however, had a fund balance of $18.8 million – $17.3 million too much, the comptroller’s office said.

“Although the average tax levy increase was less than 1 percent per year during the audit period, the Board and District officials overestimated appropriations and levied taxes that were higher than necessary, which resulted in the accumulation of significant surplus fund balance,” the report states from the comptroller’s office.

The comptroller’s office identified 13 appropriation line items that were each overestimated by more than $300,000 in the four fiscal years, totaling more than $16 million.

Of these 13 line items with large variances, six appropriations (teachers’ salaries kindergarten through grade 12, hospital and medical insurance, teachers’ retirement contribution, contract transportation, operation of plant, and tuition) each had a four-year total budget variance of more than $1.5 million, according to the audit.

School officials responded to comptroller’s staff that the district budgeted for more teachers than were needed, and some teachers announced their retirements at the end of the school, after the budget was approved. They were then replaced with teachers typically at the lower end of the pay scale.

Fewer staff and teachers at lower pay also resulted in less expense for hospital and medical insurance, and teachers’ retirement contribution estimates, which are based on a certain percentage of salaries.

The transportation appropriation was overestimated by a total of $2.1 million and operation of plant by more than $1.7 million. District officials told auditors that Albion budgeted conservatively for the transportation line item to allow for significant unforeseen transportation or repair expenditures.

Albion school officials told comptroller staff that they were concerned that significantly cutting the tax levy – which is $8,449,094 for the 2021-22 school year – would not be sustainable long-term because the tax cap limits increases to about 2 percent a year. If taxes were cut in half, the district worries it wouldn’t be able to increases taxes to previous levels once the fund balance and reserve balances were paid down.

“However, district officials would be able to exceed the tax cap limit, if ever necessary, with voter authorization for a tax cap override,” the comptroller’s report said. “Additionally, when considering significant tax cuts, the Board and officials should consider that the surplus fund balance was accumulated over many years. Rather than significant one-time tax levy reductions, officials could consider incremental decreases and maintain the real property tax levy at a level which would reduce the surplus fund balance gradually.”

‘Leadership is learned. There is no born leader.’ – Frank Berger

Photos by Tom Rivers: Mary Lou Tuohey, second from right, shares about her dream of opening her own business, Case-Nic Cookies, which she has run for 27 years, giving up a career as a nurse. Her daughter Nicole is next to her at right. They were joined as panelists with Frank Berger, Trellis Pore, and Charlie Nesbitt. They shared insights about leadership with students from Albion and Holley. Many of those students are in the Interact Club sponsored by Rotary.

ALBION – A panel of community leaders offered insights to a group of Holley and Albion students during a discussion about leadership.

Put in the work, have good intentions, be well-rounded in your coursework and curiosities, and don’t expect immediate gratification were among comments shared by the panelists. They spoke to students in the Rotary Interact Clubs at Albion and Holley, and other student leaders.

Frank Berger, 87, is a retired Medina teacher who has stayed active in his retirement. He served on the Orleans County Legislature and is a big promoter of the Boy Scouts and local veterans’ groups.

Frank Berger, 87, of Medina is a Korean War veteran and retired Medina teacher. He drew the strongest reactions with some of his blunt assessments, which he offered in colorful language.

He said his experiences as an Eagle Scout, a Red Cross instructor and even his typing class made big differences for him in his career and in the military.

He said study halls are a waste of time and students should fill up their schedule with classes, even “if it’s making yo-yos” or learning other subjects that don’t pique their interest.

“Leadership is learned,” Berger said. “There is no born leader.”

Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke said he sees good in many of the people – even those who go through the court system. Many of those people have made a mistake. They’re still good and decent people, and Bourke said they shouldn’t have their lives ruined over a mistake.

He told the students the Sheriff’s Office offers programs for addiction and mental health to help people.

Bourke said he encounters some people outside of the criminal justice system who have questionable motives.

“If you’re not a good person and you don’t have a kind heart, you don’t impress me,” Bourke said.

Bourke was asked some of the advantages of living in Orleans County and he said the community is safe – and the real estate is inexpensive.

Sheriff Chris Bourke, center, shares about rising through the ranks in the Sheriff’s Office, from a corrections office to deputy and K-9 handler, to undersheriff and now the sheriff. He sees opportunities for people to grow in law enforcement careers in the county.

The sheriff graduated with Tim Archer, an Albion teacher who coordinated the leadership panel last week at Albion High School. Bourke said he feels fortunate to have grown up in a smaller community that offers opportunities, especially with a career in law enforcement. He started his career in 1984 as a corrections officer in the jail and worked his way up to undersheriff and sheriff.

Archer said the students saw that the community leaders sacrificed, and didn’t start at the top.

“History is made by those who show up,” Archer told the group. “You don’t have to famous or popular to do something significant in your community.”

Albion student Aubrey Pask shakes hands with Nicole Tuohey, thanking her for being on a leadership panel on Thursday. About 40 students from Albion and Holley attended the session, which also included insights from Nicole’s mother, Mary Lou Tuohey, owner of Case-Nic Cookies in Medina.

Mary Lou Tuohey, owner of Case-Nic Cookies for 27 years in Medina, was joined by her daughter Nicole, 31.

Nicole was born with a genetic disease called Triple X Syndrome. She has surpassed all expectations as she grew into adulthood. Doctors told Mary Lou Nicole wouldn’t be able to walk, talk, run or ride a bike. Nicole attended Rainbow Preschool where she excelled.

She is an active citizen and prolific fundraiser for the Arc and also the Alzheimers’ Association. Nicole lost both of her grandparents to the disease. Her mother used her skills as a registered nurse to care for them.

Mary Lou gave up the nursing career to pursue her dream of running a cookie business. She is grateful to the community for their support.

Mary Lou said she was bullied and made fun of by some of her classmates. She didn’t understand when they were mean to her in school, but she didn’t let it derail her dreams or her care for others.

“I got through because there were people around me who loved me,” Tuohey said.

Charlie Nesbitt speaks with Broek Ostrom of Holley after a discussion about leadership and making a difference in the local community.

Former State Assemblyman Charlie Nesbitt left college at age 20 to serve in the Vietnam War as a helicopter pilot. He flew hundreds of missions and was awarded the “Distinguished Flying Cross” based on his actions on Nov. 14, 1968.

That day Nesbitt and his crew members were told an American soldier was stranded in enemy territory in the jungles of Laos, across the border from Vietnam. Another helicopter had been hit with a rocket and crashed. The crew needed to be rescued. Nesbitt flew a helicopter in and got out everyone, except one gunman, John Grimaldi, who was separated from his crew. Nesbitt took the recovered crew members back to safety, and then returned to enemy territory to find Grimaldi.

Nesbitt served as a local Chamber of Commerce president at age 25, and sold cars before being elected to the State Assembly. He remains active with the Albion Alumni Association and other local organizations.

Technology has opened doors for people to live in rural communities and work remotely and stay connected to people far away, he said.

True leadership is influencing others to achieve a result, Nesbitt said.

“Having an idea is nice but doing something about it is leadership,” Nesbitt told the students. “You’re not a leaders if no one follows you.”

Trellis Pore, an Albion graduate, said there are plenty of ways to make an impact in the community.

Nesbitt continues to live in Orleans County. He sees a community where committed people can truly make a difference.

“If you choose to be here, then be part of the solution,” he said to the students. “We’re small enough where everyone’s individual effort really helps.”

Trellis Pore works as a corrections officer at the Albion Correctional Facility. He also is a firearms instructor, chemical agent instructor, and CPR and first aid teacher for the Department of Corrections. He also is the pastor at the Shiloh Church and member of the Albion Board of Education.

Pore, a member of Albion’s Class of 2001, said he wants to keep busy, and would rather “wear out than rust out.” Albion has been blessed with many leaders – “some known and some unknown” – over the years who pushed the community forward, Pore said.

“A true leader shows up making a difference instead of complaining about a problem,” he said.

The panelists included from left Charles Nesbitt, Trellis Pore, Sheriff Chris Bourke, Frank Berger, Mary Lou Tuohey and her daughter Nicole Tuohey. Albion teacher Tim Archer, standing at left, coordinated the event.

Press Release, Albion Central School

Photo courtesy of ACS: Damen Chraston holds his Flat Stanley which traveled to his uncle’s military base in Germany.

ALBION – Third-grader Damen Chraston was part of Mrs. Mrzywka’s classes that created and sent out Flat Stanleys earlier this school year. While most students sent their characters around the United States, Damen’s visited his uncle’s military base in Germany.

CH (CPT) Michael Scholes, Damen’s uncle, took care of Flat Stanley while he was on base and commended Damen for dressing him in a perfect military uniform. Flat Stanley was sent back to Albion with a letter and an Army Commendation Medal. The letter reads, in part:

Having received a field commission to 1LT, Flat Stanley has contributed greatly to the overall success of the 1-3 Attack Battalion in their continued and ongoing efforts to maintain readiness and deter Russian aggression.

Recognition: For exceptionally meritorious service while assigned as a Flat Stanley Paper Liaison to the 1-3 Attack Battalion. 1LT Flat Stanley’s leadership, hard work, and dedication greatly enhanced the overall success of the Battalion’s mission. His actions are in keeping with the finest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 1-3 Attack Battalion, 12 Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Army Training Command, and the United States Army. For his actions, and in acknowledgment of his service, he is sent home with an Army Commendation Medal.

Many photos and videos were sent back throughout the fall and winter of Flat Stanley on the base, helping teach all the students about the military and a different part of the world. Flat Stanley is a children’s story book that has been adapted to enrich students’ learning of different communities and cultures.

Kelly Ricker

ALBION – A community event on June 25 will celebrate the life of Kelly Ricker and also raise funds for a scholarship in her name at Albion Central School.

West Bank Street will be closed that day to traffic from Main to Liberty streets for dance performances, food trucks and other events including a live auction where people can bid on services provided by community members. People are asked to sign up for offering a talent – it could be yard work, washing a car, a photo session, a home-cooked meal, handyman repairs, babysitting or many other options, said Amy Sidari, Gotta Dance owner. (Click here for more information.)

Her studio will host a basket auction that day. Ricker for 25 years worked alongside Sidari as stage manager. Ricker was critical in making the many recitals go smoothly, Sidari said.

“She was such an important part of the community,” Sidari said. “She was so committed behind the scenes. You didn’t realize because everything was so perfect but she was right there behind the scenes.”

Ricker passed away at age 50 on Oct. 10 after a fight with cancer. A 1989 graduate of Albion, Ricker was a lifeguard at Albion for more than 30 years and was the school’s assistant swim coach.

She was an active Girt Scout leader, assisting girls including her daughter Laiken. For 15 years she was actively involved with the board for Sandstone Park. Her son Patrick played on the team for many years. She also was very involved at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Albion.

“Kelly Ricker connected people, took the time to know them, and was always willing to help,” Sidari said. “She volunteered so much of her life selflessly.”

Proceeds from the June 25 event will go to Kelly Ricker Memorial Scholarship. The first scholarship for $1,250 will be awarded in June to a graduating senior who demonstrated a passion for swimming by striving to be their best through hard work and dedication to the swim team.

Sidari said the acts of service that will be up for bid on June 25 are a fitting tribute to Ricker who was a key volunteer to many organizations in Albion.

“She was always giving of herself,” Sidari said. “She just loved people.”

The three-person race for Albion mayor, plus four people seeking two other board seats, brought out 23.4 percent of the registered voters or 710 of 3,031.

Angel Javier Jr. was elected mayor with 378 votes to 195 for Vickie Elsenheimer and 137 for Kevin Graham.

Tim McMurray and Joyce Riley were elected trustees with 440 votes and 326 votes, respectively. Other trustee candidates included Dan Conrad with 301 votes and Sandra Walter with 206.

The candidates bought ads, put out yard signs, sent mailers and many went door-to-door. That 710 voter turnout was up from 614 in March 2018 when there was also a three-person race for mayor that was won by Eileen Banker over Joyce Riley and Kevin Doherty.

One of the trustee candidates in Tuesday’s election, Sandra Walter, said during a candidate forum that she would support moving the village election to June, like in Holley and Brockport. She thinks there would be a bigger turnout in warmer weather and candidates could more easily connect with voters.

In Medina, the turnout was only 1.2 percent for the election with 39 voters out of 3,389. However, the candidates were all unopposed with Mayor Mike Sidari and Trustees Marguerite Sherman and Tim Elliott.

They were also unopposed on the ballot in the previous election in September 2020. That election was moved back six months due to Covid restrictions.

There was a write-in campaign in that election that brought more people to the polls with Sidari winning 104 to 59 for Mary Hare. Sherman had 124 votes and Elliott received 118, to 56 for Charles Hartway.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Christine Robinson is pictured with some of the kids at Little Leapers Childcare Center, which celebrated its 20^thanniversary today.

Robinson secured her state license for the center on March 18, 2002. Back then the site was on Hamilton Street near the railroad tracks. Then it moved to East State Street near the Elks’ Lodge.

Robinson moved into the former Tiny Shoes location at the corner of Allen Road and Hamilton Street in 2011.

“The kids make you feel like a superstar,” Robinson said. “If you walk in, they’re grabbig you and hugging you.”

The kids are so excited to see Robinson and the employees if they are out in community, even if it’s years past when they were at Little Leapers.

The childcare center has room for 70 children. There is currently a waiting list. The site opens at 5 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Christine Robinson, owner of Little Leapers, is pictured with two long-time employees, Jamie Hickman (left) and Ethel Taylor (right).

Little Leapers has 18 employees and serves children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old.

Little Leapers follows a curriculum with kids being read to, learning sign language and vocabulary, and good manners are emphasized.

At Little Leapers, the motto is: “where your child leaps ahead.”

Christine Robinson works with her daughter Kourtni Mietlicki, who is the teacher in the one-year-old infant room.

Mietlicki said her mother does a great job managing the pressures of running the business.

“She can stay calm in any situation,” Mietlicki said. “She can figure out any type of issue, whether with a staff member, a kid or a parent.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A cast of 27 Albion Middle School students will be performing Alice in Wonderland at 7 p.m. Friday, and noon and 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Middle School Auditorium. Tickets are available at the door.

This is the first full-length musical the middle school gets to perform since March 2019. The cast was a week away from performing Matilda when Covid closed the school in mid-March 2020. Last year the school did a scaled down show that wasn’t in front of a live audience. They also did a shorter show this fall.

“I’m so excited to be back and performing for an audience,” Carrie Kozody, the musical director, said today after the students gave a preview of the musical to elementary students. (The young students in the crowd giggled many times during the preview.)

This will be the first time many of the cast members, including the eighth-graders, perform in front of an audience due to the previous Covid restrictions.

There are 60 students total involved in the show, including the stage crew and production team.

Julia Button plays the lead role in Alice in Wonderland. She goes down a rabbit hole and meets many zany characters, including the The White Rabbit, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, the Mock Turtle, the mysterious Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts and many others.

Kozody has directed the musical several times during her character. She likes the message in the show.

“Don’t be afraid to hold on to the whimsy of being a child,” she said. “Don’t be in a hurry to grow up.”

Carrie Kozody speaks with the cast and crew after a preview today. They were getting ready to go over their bows.

Kailee Anstey is Tweddle-Dee, right, and Phoebe Allen is Teedle-Dum. They are two silly and childish Wonderland characters taking Alice on an adventure.

These cards include Cerenity Johnson as No. 7, Neveya Barnes as No. 2, and ChrisJen Winters as No. 5. They are performing “Painting the Roses Red.”

Kamryn Simmons (right) plays the Cheshire Cat, one of the magical creatures in Alice in Wonderland.

Some members of the stage crew rehearse their bows today for the first time. There wasn’t a musical in 2020 and in 2021 it was online only. This will be the first chance to perform a full-length show for a live audience since March 2019.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Albion Rotary Club members were busy this morning making cole slaw, and prepping ham and potatoes for the return of the St. Pat’s Ham Dinner. The top photo shows Bruce Landis, left, and Doug Farley making the cole slaw.

The dinner was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions. The ham dinners will be served on Thursday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, but will be drive-through and take-out only.

The cost is $12 per dinner and are available while supplies last. Advance tickets also can be purchased through Albion Rotary Venmo @Albion-Rotary.

Brad Shelp puts the cloves in the hams in preparation for Thursday’s dinner. The hams were also dressed with dry mustard, brown sugar and crushed pineapple.

Most of the proceeds from the event support a project for the Interact Club at the high school. Those students are raising funds to assist a girls school in Pakistan. The Interactors are providing the desserts for Thursday’s dinner.

Don Bishop washes the potatoes before they will be cooked on Thursday.

The Albion Rotary Club is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year.

ALBION – Angel Javier Jr. won a three-person race for village mayor, receiving 378 votes to 195 for Vickie Elsenheimer and 137 for Kevin Graham.

Angel Javier Jr.

Javier, 32, ran with under the Republican line and independent “Better Together Albion Strong.” His four-year term starts when he is sworn into office on April 4.

He campaigned with Tim McMurray, who led four candidates for trustee with 440 votes. Joyce Riley, a Democrat, also was elected with 326 votes. Other trustee candidates included Dan Conrad with 301 votes and Sandra Walter with 206.

The newly elected board members will succeed Mayor Eileen Banker and Trustees Stan Farone and Gary Katsanis.

Javier said during the campaign he wouldn’t take the mayor’s salary, which is almost $10,000 a year. He owns the former Family Hardware building in downtown Albion and works at Rochester Gas & Electric as a pipefitter apprentice.

He said he has been connecting with businesses and residents during the campaign.

The new officials take office and face the pressing task of putting together a village budget by April 30. The current budget is about $7 million. The Village Board at its April 4 meeting also will approve appointments to village committees and some staff positions.

“I am fully aware that we have major fiscal constraints facing us as a Village, but I firmly believe that with an innovative and positive ‘can do’ approach, we can significantly improve the quality of life here in many ways – particularly for our youth,” Javier wrote in a letter in the Lake Country Pennysaver on March 13.

Press Release, Albion Central School

Photo courtesy of Albion Central School: A group of high school students from Albion were able to spend a week in the nation’s capital.

ALBION – Close Up students recently returned from a week spent in Washington, D.C. This year’s participating students were Miguel Aldaco, Jeffrey Brown, Belen Rosario Soto, Collin Capurso, Tyler Gibson, Leah Kania, James Beach and Nicolina Creasey with advisor Rich Gannon.

While in the nation’s capital, they had the opportunity to visit many monuments, memorials and museums. Among the sites toured were the Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument at night, the Eisenhower Memorial, FDR Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Kennedy Center, White House, Capitol Building, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of Natural History and Arlington National Cemetery.

“In my experience, I really enjoyed the expeditions to the monuments,” said senior Collin Capurso. “All these memorials featured descriptive writings from speeches or quotes and they all really stood out to me in a certain way.”

Senior Belen Rosario-Soto was impacted by many of the war memorials, particularly the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

“We got to see the anguish on the faces. It made it more realistic, honestly, being able to see those expressions,” she said. “It really just put a face to a name and made me think these are actual people that actually went here and did this, not just a little brief hour lesson that we usually learn in history class.”

While visiting Capitol Hill, Congressman Chris Jacobs met with the students from Albion to share his views and answer questions. The students were also able to watch a live debate.

“We got to witness a debate between a liberal and a conservative the first night that we got there,” said Rosario-Soto. “The way they behaved toward each other, they were passive aggressive but they still showed a level of respect.”

Fellow senior Nicolina Creasey learned a lot from watching the debate.

“The most interesting or shocking thing that I learned is that the two extreme sides of political debate can sometimes – actually very often – can meet in agreement,” noted Creasey. “I think we saw that a lot and that was really strange to see. I didn’t think that was possible.”

Albion students were immersed with other high schoolers from around the country, giving them an opportunity to learn about others’ beliefs, backgrounds and customs.

“My favorite part was meeting all the new people from Louisiana, California, Iowa, Ohio, Rhode Island,” said senior Leah Kania.

Capurso enjoyed the sense of community and connectedness of having Close Up students from all across the country join together for the week.

“I felt like it created a very nice sense of community,” he said. “There was some unity and interconnectedness amongst all of us. I really appreciated that because it taught me, essentially, that these are all different people from different backgrounds and locations, but we all came together for the same purpose and we all made the best of it.”

“We really learned how to actually be politically involved citizens,” added Kania. “We discussed our opinions on certain topics and we really discussed liberty, justice and equality a lot and how they were important to the different monuments.”

The Close Up Foundation was founded in 1971 with Albion students involved in the program for decades. The program was built on the belief that young people from all backgrounds need a better understanding of the democratic process and their responsibilities as citizens.