Admiring Anytown From Afar

I never attended Anytown.


I had some wonderful high school experiences, but that wasn't one of them.



I did, however, have friends who attended and had wonderful things to say about the program.



From everything I've ever read or heard about Anytown, it's the kind of program I would have chosen to attend--and would still choose to attend.



It's also a program I would highly recommend for high school students, simply based on everything I've ever heard about the experiences young people have at Anytown.


I appreciated reading Tina Firesheets's article about Anytown in Sunday's News & Record.


And I think it's cool that David Hoggard's daughter (Josie) just attended and apparently had an amazing Anytown experience, despite initially having only a luke-warm interest in attending.



What was also neat for me was reading about people I've known or heard of but haven't seen or heard about in awhile.



On the front page of the Life section is a photograph of Cassi Falls, whom I believe attended the middle school where I teach, even though she wasn't one of my students. I didn't know her when she was in the eighth-grade, but I was deeply impressed by a guest column she had printed in the News & Record while she was in high school.



Peter Amidon, whom I had heard had become a teacher at Greensboro Day School, was a leader of Youth Leadership Forum-Greensboro (YLF-G), a program of the Greensboro Youth Council (GYC). I met Peter through YLF-G/GYC, and even though I didn't know him well, I admired the impressive leadership and people skills he already possessed as a high school student. From the article, I learned that Peter now uses his talents at the Center for Creative Leadership.



Briefly mentioned in a section about Mike Warner, Patricia Allen is another person whose name I believe I recognize as someone I knew from my GYC days. She too was an all-around impressive individual who not only attended Anytown but also returned as one of its advisers and co-directors. Again, it's been several years since I've seen Patricia, but I have positive memories of her from when we were in high school.



Alex Wall is pictured for the article, with a brief caption. He's a former student of mine. Like Cassi Falls, Alex went through Southwest Guilford Middle and High Schools. I have positive memories of him from his eighth-grade year, and I later taught his sister. I'm pretty sure that Alex is the student I one day asked to punch me in front of his classmates. I had a reason for making such an odd request, and Alex obliged. The caption with his photograph indicates that Alex is playing with a friend's lavender piece. I'm a fan of purple hair, but it's not my hair piece he's playing with in the picture. I hope Alex, his sister, and his family are doing well.



Kris Britton is the last person whose name and face I recognized from the article. All too briefly, Kris served as the School Resource Officer at my school, during her tenure as a High Point Police Department officer. She was very well-respected, among our students and our staff. During the time that she was at our school, she helped lead a program similar to Anytown for a smaller group of our school's students. The program was held off-campus, and a few of our staff members were involved in it. While I was not there, I only heard the best of comments about the job that Kris did with the students. I believe the experience only lasted a day, but I know that the students involved in that program, just like the Anytown participants, were lucky to have had the opportunity to participate and benefit from what they learned. Kris is no longer a police officer and now teaches and coaches at Dudley High School. Kris obviously continues to put her many talents to good use; she is one of five finalists for Guilford County Schools Teacher of the Year. (Congratulations, Kris!)



Anytown participants are encouraged to go back into their communities and serve as delegates. They are encouraged to teach and spread the lessons they've learned and make an all-around positive difference.



In our world, there can never be enough programs like Anytown.



Thank you, Tina Firesheets, for writing such a good article.


Thank you, Jerry Wolford, for sharing such good photographs.



And thank you, Anytown leaders and participants, for all that you've done and are doing to help make our world a better place.