SCS October 18, 2022

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Veteran teacher is ‘always a teacher, always a student

By Katherine Mace CONTRIBUTOR

First-grader Remington Claire Koski was excited to share her admiration for her teacher, Patricia Wilson.

“I like her bigger than my dad’s truck,” she gasped as the words tumbled out. “I like her bigger than the stars!”

Wilson, a Sun City resident, teaches at Royal Live Oaks Academy of Arts and Sciences (RLOA), a charter school in Hardeeville. She is in her 50th year of teaching first-graders.

Remington’s mom, Audrey Koski, echoed this enthusiasm.

“We moved here from Nashville, Tennessee. Kindergarten in Nashville was tough, and Remington was stressed,” Koski said. “I was afraid school was getting ruined for her. Now she jumps out of bed in the morning. She loves school.”

Stepping into Wilson’s classroom is elec trifying. Enthusiasm for counting by ones, twos, and then by fives is contagious. Wilson and all the children danced and sang as they counted to 120 by twos and then by fives.

Then they sat to write their numbers.

“Don’t stress if this is hard for you,” Wil son offered. “We have until the end of first grade to learn this. And if you need help, where is it?”

Hands shot up. A huge poster with numbers from 1 to 120 hangs on the classroom wall, and there is a small one on every child’s desk. Jesus Nuñez got all his numbers right and was happy to display it.

Royal Live Oak is the venture of found ers Les and Karen Wicks, who searched along the I-95 corridor with a vital mission in mind. They wondered what they could do to break the cycle of poverty, and they were determined to create a culture to show the children what is possible. RLOA is the result.

This motto is emblazoned across the caf eteria wall in Spanish and English: “Think critically with integrity to solve problems.”

In its tenth year, the K-12 school serves nearly 650 students, one-third native Spanish-speaking, one-third African-American, and one-third white.

Patricia Wilson smiles and waves from the back of her classroom along with her first grade students at Royal Live Oaks Academy in Hardeeville.

PHOTOS BY KATHERINE MACE

During COVID each child was provided with a hotspot if they needed it, so every one has access to the internet.

“I could wear a sandwich board for our school,” Wilson said. “I moved here from Wilmington, North Carolina, and was honored to be picked to teach here. Dr. Wicks is particular about who she hires. Everyone has a master’s degree. Teachers are held accountable for high test scores. I have a full time paraprofessional and 26 first-graders. I adore Dr. Wicks. Rich or poor, the children come first.”

Wilson, who previously taught in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Knoxville, Tennessee, said the classrooms at RLOA have much improved since the early days.

“For three years, we taught in dou ble-wide trailers,” Wilson said. “Then we got our wonderful new building, and three months later the pandemic struck.”

Every student and teacher-colleague enhances Wilson’s experience.

“It’s the new teachers and my students who teach me the new tricks. I learn and it builds their self-confidence,” she said. “You’re always a teacher and always a

student.”

Wilson certainly knows the nuts and bolts of teaching.

“We teachers know where to shop. Habitat for Humanity is good for children’s books,” she said. “My neighbors donate magazines. I might hand them out and ask the children to find a letter A.”

There is plenty of evidence that this seasoned teacher knows first-graders. It was Enzo Sotelo’s birthday, and he wore a ribbon to prove it. Remington described getting a necklace to put her tooth in when she lost it at school.

Wilson often mixes Spanish words into her teaching. Edna Sanchez, a new student who is just learning English, got a medal from the school tutor because she has learned so many new words in English. Her classmates celebrated and gave her a round of applause.

Wilson asked the other students how to say “medal” in Spanish.

Positive vibes permeate the classroom, and Wilson is always on message. She ignored a water spill and let the kids clean it up. “Water won’t hurt this floor,” she

First grader Edna Sanchez earned a medal for learning new English words.

noted.

And she did not miss a beat when she told the first-grade students, whom she calls friends, “I see friends not talking.”

And immediately, the room becomes quiet.

Wilson continued, “We’re working on our reputation. Everyone in the school knows that we know how to walk in the hall. Now, we will have a good reputation because you know math.”

Selena Jenkins, the paraprofession al who works with Wilson, shared the enthusiasm. “Mrs. Wilson is a wonderful teacher. I wish I’d had her when I was a child. She really does care about the kids. I’ve learned so much from her.”

First-grader Taylor Bailey added, “She is so lovely. She is so nice.”

When a visitor walks in the halls of RLOA, there is always an escort. Upon leaving Wilson’s room, Edna and her class mate Scarlet Hernandez were the escorts, and they exuded self-confidence as they led the way to the office.

Scarlet bubbled with enthusiasm as she exclaimed, “Today we learned about baking. I like Mrs. Wilson!”

Katherine Mace is a writer who lives in Sun City.

What can we do to push back against climate change?

By David W. Smith

The ferocity of Hurricane Ian along with the ongoing drought and accompa nying wildfires in the west have led more and more folks to believe in the reality of climate change. Though we believe it is real, many of us don’t know what an individual homeowner can do about it.

Energy production is a major con tributor to the problem and our homes consume lots of energy. There are a variety of actions Sun City residents can take to increase the energy efficiency of their homes. By using less energy to get the same jobs done, we help the environ ment while saving ourselves money.

Converting to LED bulbs is the single greatest energy efficiency change you can make. LED bulbs use up to 90% less energy than conventional incandes cent bulbs and can last 25 times longer. Though they cost more to purchase, their lifetime savings are huge.

Many of the canister lights in our kitchens and baths have CLF fluorescent bulbs, which have delay startups. The LED replacements turn on instantly and are significantly brighter. If you’re not ready for a total changeover, start by first replacing the bulbs you use most frequently.

Furnace filters should be checked reg ularly and replaced if dirty. Your system will run more efficiently and last longer. Never remove a dirty filter until you

have its replacement.

There’s a common miscon ception that closing register dampers saves energy; it doesn’t. Dampers should be left open to properly circulate both cooled and heated air throughout your home. Make sure furniture doesn’t block air flow.

Check your hot water temperature. If it’s over 120 degrees, reset your water heater. Not only will you save energy and money, no one will get scalded.

Set computers to automatically enter a low power “sleep” mode when not in use.

Check with Palmetto Electric to learn about their “smart thermostat’ program.

As things wear out, look for energy efficiency when replacing them. Check Energy Star ratings when replacing appli ances, windows and doors.

Consider heat pumps for cooling and

heating. Have your ducting and insu lation checked when upgrading your HVAC system. Heat pump water heaters not only heat water more efficiently but simultaneously lower the garage tem perature.

When re-roofing, opt for lighter color shingles to reflect heat.

Walk, bike, or drive an electric golf cart rather than using your car to get around the community. Go electric when it’s time to replace your car.

Look into solar panels as an invest ment, not just for their environmental benefits.

The newly formed Energy Conser vation Action Team’s mission is to help neighbors understand and implement energy saving actions they can take. Contact the team at environmentalac tiongroupschh@gmail.com.

David W. Smith is a member of the Envi ronmental Action Group of Sun City Hilton Head.

Memories

HILTON HEAD ISLAND FOR OVER 30 YEARS

Over

WHAT IS RESTORATIVE MEDICINE?

Restorative medicine involves using Human Cellular Tissue Products (HCTPs) to help the body heal itself. Through restorative medicine, damaged tissue in joints are supplemented with healthy structural tissue to provide an opportunity to restore from within.

KNEES, SHOULDERS, AND HIPS

Dr. Heather Hinshelwood MD has helped thousands of patients with knees, shoulders, hips and more. The procedure takes only 30 minutes and allows the patient to leave with a simple band-aid over the site.

RESULTS ORIENTED

Many patients experience a significant reduction in knee pain within 48 hours due to the reduced inflammation. With restorative medicine therapy, most patients feel maximum results within 10 to 12 weeks and up to 95% within 6 months.

DR. BRAD FRAUM

&

HEATHER HINSHELWOOD

By Chris Roosa CONTRIBUTOR

The number 80, in and of itself, can be a positive number or a negative. If I got 80% on a high school exam, I would have been extremely unhappy. However, if my blood pressure was 120/80 I would be delighted.

When I turned 80 years old, it rather took my breath away. It is a real eye opener.

There are those that will say, “Look at the alternative!” No one is honestly telling you that this number sucks.

When I moved here, I could swing a tennis racket, join every activity, party, run from morning until night. But this magical number has brought with it a reality check.

Eighty, in fact, has proved to me that my bones do break easily… and often.

Eighty has shown me that I can’t hear as well as I once did.

Eighty has me losing my balance. No

longer am I the upright hearty kid I once was, swinging from the monkey bars. Now I’m hanging on railings for steadiness, cars for support or walls for balance.

Eighty is the age that my cataracts began growing back, once again caus ing me blurred vision.

Eighty! I bet my husband never thought he’d be kissing an eighty year old broad?

Eighty is the age where it’s just is too much effort to shower, wash and blow dry hair, AND put on make up to go to the Mexican restaurant for an hour’s dinner.

Eighty is the age when my husband spends more time at the doctors office than at home.

At eighty, a girls night out means one cocktail and be home by dusk. When I was younger, it meant party all night and roll in when the rooster crows.

Eighty means I’ll never jog again, never ride/train my horse again or buy

another puppy.

Eighty means my husband gets the walker and I get the cane.

Eighty means I can no longer find a swimsuit to hid my stomach.

Eighty has proved to me that I can no longer get up off the floor.

Most sobering of all, eighty has made me realize that I might not see ninety.

But on the brighter side, I can play deaf and zone out on boring conversa tions with groups.

At eighty, I found my mouth so I can tell the younger ones to put away their cell phones while in my company.

I no longer care if everyone in the world likes me. At this ripe old age, I have totally lost the filter on my mouth and stand up for myself now.

I speak my opinion rather than de murely sitting back with a smile falsely pasted on my face. I laugh at the dirty jokes and easily cry at the heartwarm ing happenings.

Today I think all babies are a pre cious gift from God – not just some thing that messes a dozen diapers a day and blows baby pablum in my face.

Today I take time for me. When I was younger, I would have felt guilty to read a book mid-afternoon.

I’ve come to realize that people don’t judge me on how clean my home is or how available I am. They either like me for me, or they don’t! And that’s okay.

In these 80 years I have grown into the person I was always meant to be with flaws and imperfections – but also with wisdom and true under standing of what it means to be a wife, a mother, a sister or a friend.

It took me these 80 years to figure it all out and now I am PERFECT for my next stage!

Chris Roosa is a resident of Sun City Hilton Head.

Art in Bloom

The inaugural Art in Bloom was held Sept. 17-18, with paintings by members of the Art Club, interpreted in the creative floral designs of Avant Gardeners members. Artist Cynthia Byers and floral designer Elaine Powers won the people’s choice for their seascape presentation.

PHOTOS BY TOM MILLS