editorial@observertoday.com
WESTFIELD Greg Birner, Westfield Academy and Central School’s Social Studies teacher, and his We the People Team have experienced unprecedented success this year by placing second at states with an invitation to nationals.
Birner has been coaching We the People teams since 2007. To date, the best any team has placed was third overall in the state competition. This year, the 14 students who made up the We the People Team placed second overall and were marked as above average or excellent by 21 out of 24 judges, Birner said.
Only the top two placing teams in the state are invited to the national competition. Birner said that nine out of the 14 students have chosen to compete in the nationals, which will take place in late April.
The Volunteer Services Council at Kerrville State Hospital has issued the following request for community support of Christmas activities and gifts this year for the KSH patients.
Courtney Compton, president of that board, and Caryn Talarico, community relations director, said the VSC is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to help KSH patients by providing resources and items which cannot be purchased with state-appropriated funds.
As this includes gifts of any kind, they said, the VSC is looking for families and businesses to âadopt a patientâ or âsponsor a unitâ for Christmas.
âWe are quickly approaching that wonderful time of year when we have the opportunity to make the Christmas season special for someone else,â they wrote. âThis Christmas will look very different for all of us, but especially our 220 patients at Kerrville State Hospital. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, we will not be able to provide the âusualâ holiday parties,