| year in review |
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Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Lake Pontchartrain opens; Boe leads tourism
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t was rainy that Monday morning back on Jan. 8, but that didn’t seem to bother the students or teachers of Lake Pontchartrain Elementary. Located at 3328 U.S. 51 in LaPlace, the new multi-million dollar Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School opened for the first time more than five years after the original site was damaged by flooding from Hurricane Isaac. Stepping onto a fully constructed campus was a new experience for many elementary age children who have only known the trailers of a temporary campus. For the previous five years, LPE students in prekindergarten through eighth grade attended school in a system of portable classrooms located at the former site of East St. John Elementary. Settling into a new school with a functional gym, computer labs, fine arts classrooms and updated technological and security capabilities was a long time coming, according to then-principal Jason Beber. “Now we have our nest, and we’ll get to see the school come to life and the students put their mark on it with artwork, playing their instruments, basketball, baseball, volleyball and quiz bowl,” he said in January 2018. • As the new Executive Director of River Parishes Tourist Commission, St. John the Baptist Parish native Buddy Boe said he aims to market
Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School principal Jason Beber ushers students to their new classrooms during the school’s grand opening following five years of Hurricane Isaac closure.
the culture and history of the River Region as a unified package while maintaining communication with Parish Council members and other stakeholders. Boe, only a week into his new position, had to respond to concerns regarding the Tourist Commission at a St. John the Baptist Parish Council meeting in January. “Just like floods don’t know parish boundaries and we have unified flood protection, visitors don’t know parish boundaries,” Boe said. “We’re stronger and easier to recognize to a visitor in that way, and it makes our dollars go further. We are going to continue to make sure the River Region is marketed and promoted as a unique package.” One of Boe’s goals was
to capitalize on the New Orleans Tricentennial by making the River Parishes a day trip for the masses of tourists expected to pour into the city in 2018. • St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools first went public in January with plans to open a magnet high school program for the 201819 academic year. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and represents the future of high-level career employment, according to then School Board Member Russ Wise. The veteran education representative said the School District was not offering high school students focused training in engineering or high-tech education. “I think if we concentrate
on computers, computer coding and computer engineering, we would be offering something that isn’t available now and something that could really make a difference in the future of our kids,” Wise said. Superintendent Kevin George introduced the magnet high school initiative to the School Board during the Board’s mid-January 2018 retreat. He was given the go-ahead to report back to Board members at future meetings with updates on potential opening details for the 2018-19 academic year. “We want to give families another option,” George said. “We want to create a Magnet Program. We call John L. Ory a magnet school, but it is really not because there are no qualifications to get into the school. You just have to fill out the application and there is a lottery system. • What began as a typical workday quickly turned into one of the most frightening experiences of Aaron St. Pierre’s life. St. Pierre, 24, had just returned to his home in Garyville Jan. 16, after stopping to pick up prescription medicine for his 7-month-old son, Shane. The typically happy baby was battling a high fever and severe congestion after testing positive for the flu, replacing his usual smiles with cries and strained breathing. His mother, Brittany St. Pierre, rocked him in her lap and listened as he snored in heavy breaths through his nose.
Then the sound stopped. Brittany looked down and saw Shane still and unmoving. She screamed, “He’s not breathing! He’s not breathing!” as St. Pierre ran inside from the carport. When St. Pierre picked Shane up, the infant’s arms fell limp to his sides, unresponsive. It was St. Pierre’s first time administering CPR since being certified through work, a requirement for joining the emergency response team at Valero. “At first, it was as if it wasn’t working,” St. Pierre said. As he administered mouthto-mouth and compressions, he shielded Shane’s body from his wife and young daughter, Brynn, who had charged into the room hysterical with concern for her baby brother. As he saw lights flash in the front yard, signaling the arrival of emergency responders, St. Pierre tried again to administer mouthto-mouth. “That time, I felt whatever was stuck in his airway pop through his throat,” St. Pierre said. “He gasped for air, choked a little bit and then just started screaming and crying.” Hearing his son take that first breath after being unresponsive for close to two minutes was a huge relief, St. Pierre said, but it also felt distant and surreal, like an out-of-body experience. After an overnight stay and neurological testing at Children’s Hospital, Shane returned home and has since made a full recovery.
Walters’ coaching recognized; SCC opens new gym Hot on the heels of West St. John High’s first state championship since 2004, coach Brandon Walters found recognition on a national scale Jan. 4 when he was named a finalist by the for the Don Shula NFL Coach of the Year Award. The Coach of the Year nomination commended excellence in character, integrity, leadership, community dedication, commitment to player health and safety and on-field success at the high school level. Walters was one of 32 NFL Coach of the Year nominees from across the nation. To Walters, coaching is about building strong players on the field while also building boys into good, honest men. “I believe you are judged by how you carry yourself
and how your players look toward you for guidance,” Walters said at the time. “You try to be a good Walters role model and teach them how to be a good man.” • East St. John High School studentathlete D’Andrei Pittman received the UVerify Spotlight Athlete Award for Excellence in Academic and Athletic Achievement from Nick Mitchell of UVerify at the Jan. 11 St. John Parish School Board meeting. Pittman was chosen for excellence on the field and in the classroom. • After nearly a year of being displaced to off-campus facilities, St. Charles Catholic High
2018
School athletic teams came home Jan. 22 to a newly renovated gym. With state-of-the-art wood flooring, versatile bleachers, a new ceiling, upgraded lighting, audio and video capabilities, new scoreboards and new basketball goals, the facility was prepped and ready to welcome basketball teams. Athletic Director Frank Monica said a well-maintained home gym attracts crowds of support and projects a positive impression to visiting schools. “You look good, you play good,” Monica said at the time. “Part of our mantra here is with everything we do, we want it to be nice. When you show the public something, you want it to be first class.”
Community members enter the new St. Charles Catholic High School gymnasium.
A Year in the River Parishes...
January 2018 M C Y K