"The students from the Delaware Polytech High School were among the best high school students we have ever met."

A trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show on March 6, 2007, was the beginning of the birthday festivities for Tony’s 65 th. It was something we always wanted to do, so the reservations with Martz were made and we boarded the Martz bus at 8 a.m.

The flower show was at the Philadelphia Convention Center, and it was a spectacular event. We were literally overwhelmed by the scents, sounds, and of course, the sights….flowers everywhere but in beautiful displays depicting the legends of Ireland.

Tony had his camera with him and began to shoot the scenes as we entered through an arch and into the main exhibition area. It was almost too much to take in, but we couldn’t stop moving, shooting, oohing and ahhing….that is until we literally ran into a group of enthusiastic young people who were at the show with their teacher.

What a wonderful example of learning at its best and students who were actually enjoying the experience of soaking up so much knowledge about plants, the environment, art and beauty.

These students were from The Polytech High School in Delaware. Not your ordinary High School, this school was selected as a super school, and that was an apt description of the eight students we met.

They were on a field trip with their teacher, who they affectionately called Miss W. They were there because they are passionate about the world we live in and want to go into careers that will make it a better place to be.

Their interests ranged from landscape architecture to marine biology,and these young people were only in high school. What grand and heroic expectations for their future.

They were enchanting and a pleasure to talk with, and the one thing that stood out was their understanding that they were successful at this point in their lives because their teacher was tough on them. They loved her for it.

They were delighted to tell us that Sue Wujtewicz expected much and rode them hard in the classroom. This is not something we hear very often in the popular culture. For that matter it wasn't something we heard very often when we were teachers.

These young people were having fun learning how the elements of each display at the flower show could somehow teach them something about what they were learning in their classes.

It is refreshing to interview a group that age and have everyone answer the question differently. Oftentimes, I’ve found that one answers and the rest paraphrase

it…not so here. They all had very definite opinions and they weren’t shy about relating them.

The Philadelphia Flower Show was one of our best days and a great way to start a series of birthday celebrations. This encounter with eight earnest young people with big goals was a highlight of the day.

The students from the Delaware Polythec High School were among the best high school students we have ever met.

We left them with a happy feeling… a promise to visit their school and a sense of gratitude for their cooperation and their kindness to us and their teacher.

Since that memorable meeting in Philadelphia, a lot has happened in our country. One thing remains the same, however, we spend much too much time talking about celebrity bad boys like Don Imus and not enough time shining the spotlight on people like the Delaware 8 and their teacher.

It's time to focus attention and resources on people like the students we met at the Philadelphia Flower Show. They hold the key to our future.

Please send feedback to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it