What’s R-E-S-P-E-C-T? County second graders can tell you

By MARY ANN GREIER
LISBON — Not sure what respect means? Just ask a second-grader.

Kelly Seddon, a prevention specialist with the Aiming High program offered by the Family Recovery Center, asked some second grade students to come up with designs about respect.

She provided them with T-shirt-shaped paper for their drawings, noting that they should wear respect every day, just like they wear their T-shirts or other clothing.

One design showed two people holding hands under the saying “It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice.”

For attendees and speakers at the third annual Practicing Respect Day event in Columbiana County, coming up with a definition for respect brought a variety of responses, all carrying the same simple message: be nice.

“Children learn what they live...if we show respect for each other, children will learn by seeing what we do,” Head Start Director Kathy Shaver told the small crowd gathered on the gazebo in downtown Lisbon.

When she learned about her speaking engagement, she started thinking about what respect means and a poll of her staff resulted in some defining words: compassion, honor, honesty, mutual concern, admiration. At Head Start, she said their goal is to help parents be the best teachers they can be. They do that by respecting them and their children and by creating an environment of respect, teaching the children to respect people, places, things and themselves.

“We reap what we sow...if we show respect, we’re going to get that respect in return,” she said.

Denise Weingart, a Columbiana County assistant prosecutor in Juvenile Court, also looked up the definition of respect, receiving more than 300 million hits on her Internet search and finding several quotes on respect. As a survivor of domestic abuse, she said she decided to break the cycle of violence by calling for help, saying she had to respect herself, respect the system and respect her two young sons.

“Everyone deserves respect, no one deserves abuse,” she said.

Beth Schmitt of the Christina House and Dorothy Kane, project coordinator for the Tri-County Family Violence Prevention Coalition, also spoke briefly. Kane noted proclamations received from Gov. Ted Strickland and from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and U.S. Sen. George Voinovich. A representative of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office also offered a proclamation, along with county Commissioner Penny Traina.

The proclamation approved by commissioners Wednesday morning urged county residents to “...take time to understand, practice and help prevent family violence by respecting each other.”

The month of May is Family Violence Prevention Month in Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties, with the Family Recovery Center and Tri-County Family Violence Prevention Coalition partners hosting the respect day celebration.

Winners of the T-shirt poster contest for second graders at Crestview and Lisbon included:

¯ Crestview: Caleb Dew, first; Brendon Mauer, second; and Jade Caudill, third

¯ Lisbon: Douglas Minor, first; Morgan Croyle, second; and Hannah Deland, third.

The winners received gift certificates from Wal-Mart.

Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net