Charleroi students send message of love

By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
Charleroi Area Middle School teacher Chad Pappasergi has one hope for his students: to become better, caring people through his lessons.
That hope was confirmed recently when his students showed their compassion for others following the Oct. 27 massacre at Squirrel Hill’s Tree of Life synagogue that left 11 people dead.
Pappasergi takes time to talk about current events with his seventh-grade social studies students.
After the tragedy in Squirrel Hill, Pappasergi thought it would be appropriate to talk about what happened since it was so close to home.
“I try to teach my students to become better people inside and outside of the classroom,” Pappasergi said. “That is my main goal everyday.”
To show their support, about a week after the shooting he asked his students what they thought about making a poster for the synagogue.
“They loved the idea and got really excited about being a part of something like that,” he said. “My rule of thumb is that if it is on the news it is acceptable to talk about in class, so I wanted to make sure it was not something we overlooked.”
The project was completed Nov. 16 when a group of students took the lead on the design.
Students Jake Beveridge, Arlo McIntyre, Bella Carroto, Ella Boehmer, Mekenzie Walsh, Zoe Duhon, Jaheim Payne, Chris Byron, Braden Simala, Amelia Downer, Marissa Stiffy and Ainsley Hatalowich helped with the design.

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