In times of crisis, the true nature of people will generally be revealed. This past Friday, a true crisis occured when a bus loaded with children overtruned on it way to school. I did not witness the actual accident, but arrived just after it happened. What I was able to witness was members of the Goshen community, the staff of Goshen High and Goshen Elementary, the emergency responders, and others join in to make sure the children were taken care of. There is not enough space in this letter to name all the people that played a major part, and most of them will tell you they were just doing their part, or their job. But watching all of them, you could feel that the people were not just doing what they are trained to do, but that they truly cared about the kids they were helping. Some children were hurt worse than others, and those were quickly attended to and moved to local hospitals. Others were held, hugged, and comforted while patiently waiting their turn to be checked out. The whole situation could have been much worse, but the professionalism and efforts of all the people that showed up to help was amazing to watch. A special thanks needs to be given to Mr. Johnny and Mrs. Beverly Taylor, who opened up their home to get all the children and workers out of the rain, and give them a dry place to tend to the children. They are examples of what was on display this past Friday – a group of people and community that I am proud to call myself a part of.

Chris Wilkes

Pike County Board of Education