GUEST VIEW: Thank goodness for PAL

Opinion

Discussion

March 12, 2013

GUEST VIEW: Thank goodness for PAL

By Karyn Morrison Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Tue Mar 12, 2013, 03:00 AM EDT

Niagara Gazette — As a special education teacher the Police Athletic League has and continues to be a huge benefit to my students. Something I have always instilled in them is that it is more important to give back to your community then it is to receive from it. PAL has been instrumental to me being able to teach that lesson to my students.

During my 20 years of teaching I have been able to use the PAL van for taking my class on field trips that would not have been possible otherwise. Having a class of 12 students the cost for a regular size school bus is just too expensive and cumbersome to take such a small group on trips. With the PAL van we can use the community as our classroom. This brings the real world into my teaching all thanks to PAL.

With the PAL van my class has been able to go on fieldtrips to places like Equistar Therapeutic Horseback Riding in Newfane (what a thrill it is for a student with physical limitations to ride a horse for the first time), apple picking in the fall, and to internship opportunities around the city. We also borrow the van each year to attend a Special Olympics Competition. One year my students raised money and PAL allowed us to borrow the van to go to Washington D.C. Prior to this, seven of the 10 students I took had never left Western New York. Those students still talk about the trip and what a great time they had. It was an opportunity that could have only been made possible by PAL.

PAL also helps me in teaching my students how to give back to those that help us. Each month my students are the workers that help to assemble the mailing of the PAL calendar. They are learning job skills that will help them in the future and helping PAL at the same time. I have one student that every month says, “Mrs. Morrison we do this to help PAL and they let us use the van right?”

Absolutely!

In addition, PAL has always supported the students in my class. Sometimes this is to help out with the cost of a field trip, to supply T-shirts to an activity, or sometimes to help out an individual student in need. I know if I need help PAL will help me find a way to solve the problem.

I am speaking on my own behalf but I am only one of the dozens of teachers in the Niagara Falls School System that benefit from the generosity of the Niagara PAL. But if they are to continue to help us PAL needs our help. Please consider supporting PAL.

Thank you PAL for all the wonderful things you do for the children of Niagara County. Donations can be sent to Niagara PAL 4455 Porter Road, Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14305.

Karyn Morrison is a teacher at Niagara Falls High School.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Opinion

GLYNN: Poll shows public upset with Albany scandals Area state lawmakers including a few Republicans who like to bask in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's reflected glory should take a closer look at the latest Siena College Poll results. Those coattails may not help in the next election, unless there's a dramatic reversal in the way state government operates. While Cuomo is hardly to blame for all the embarrassing mess on Capitol Hill, he still is the state Chief Executive of the system becoming more dysfunctional every day, according to the Siena findings. (In the words of a famous American, shouldn't the buck stop at the governor's desk?)
May 23, 2013 1 Photo
EDITORIAL: Give our visitors something to write home about Company is coming and we're not ready. But we can take comfort in the fact that hardly anyone is ever ready.
May 23, 2013
BRADBERRY: Peaceful place to learn, to think More famous as the birthplace of "I Love Lucy's" Lucille Ball, and NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, Jamestown, New York is a well preserved vestige of rural Americana.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
DELUCA: Poetry, in motion
Bob Baxter sent me his new book of poems the other day and I promised to read them. But, when I tried to open the book, I couldn't. I've always been prejudiced against poetry.

He knew of my dislike, but as a retired creative writing professor, had hoped the poems from “Niagara Lost and Found” might soften me toward one of his favorite art forms.

Sadly, my disdain was set in place long ago, in reaction to teachers who could not help me understand.

May 22, 2013 1 Photo
CONFER: When will the college bubble burst? The bursting of the housing bubble was the unquestioned cause of the Great Recession. After years of unprecedented growth in the housing market that saw home ownership and home values rise dramatically, the collective bad decisions of homebuyers, banks, and government finally caught up to the economy at large.
May 20, 2013 1 Photo
CITY DESK: Buffalo bears, oh my! It's bad enough those "secretive" Buffalo interests are always trying to co-op our city and our good name with all their grant money and what not.
May 20, 2013 1 Photo
HIGGS: Still in high school Local Architect Clinton Brown recently described the style of the 168,000-square-foot building housing the Niagara Falls High School at the corner of Portage Road and Pine Avenue as "a three-story structure with concrete and steel structure, cut stone and masonry façade and classical inspired details. These include the hierarchical and symmetrical main and secondary facades, a central porch with six two-story engaged columns and the balustrade main staircase to the front doors and upper porch. The original four-over-four hung windows have been replaced with shorter aluminum sliding windows with
May 20, 2013 1 Photo
EDITORIAL: Get out and vote in the school elections on Tuesday We all have some important decisions to make Tuesday. Unfortunately, if recent history is any indication, very few will make the effort.
May 20, 2013
GUEST VIEW: Seneca Niagara Casino is all we need Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking about. I hear and read about people chastising the Seneca-run casino in Niagara Falls.
May 20, 2013 1 Photo
GLYNN: 'Bums Park' short walk from falls
Shame on those for allowing a couple of properties within walking distance of the nation's oldest state park to deteriorate to skid row status. There's plenty of blame to share.

May 19, 2013 1 Photo
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

GUEST VIEW: Thank goodness for PAL

Site Map

Contact Us