Welcome to the neighborhood

Today I got to witness the induction of some 175 new teachers into our county's public school system. Some are veteran teachers from other counties. But most are recent graduates whose average age appears to be about 22. The event took place in the cafeteria of South Hagerstown High School, which was a sort of architectural triumph 50 years ago and still looks pretty snazzy.

Anyway, speeches were made about the quality of the our public schools, the value of qualified teachers, the breadth of local business support for education, the depth of our cultural traditions. While the various local officials took turns saying their piece, the the assembled teachers sat at the cafeteria tables, lunching on little sandwiches and brownies and fruit punch.

Yours truly was among the representatives of dozens of local agencies with display booths set up around the perimeter of the room. Prominent among these were local banks and credit unions, watching the new teachers like hawks considering their prey. Also present were usual suspects such as the library, the humane society, the tourism bureau. And along with all these were the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts as well as the Maryland Theatre. Because I wasn't actually invited (your arts council being a sort of after-thought, bottom-feeding kind of agency in the consideration of the organizers, far below the likes of the Museum and the Theatre), I sorta snuck in and staked out a corner of the Maryland Theatre's table (thanks, Brian!) and then acted like I was supposed to be there all along.

Unfortunately, there weren't that many takers. I'm hoping that as these young people new to our community get settled in, they'll venture out and see just how much arts-n-culture stuff is available to them. But, even if I didn't make a lot of contacts today, dragging myself across that scorching parking lot was worth it, just to see what a crop of new teachers looks like, but--more importantly--to witness firsthand the ways in which our community values education.