When we walked into Wilkinson Gardens Elementary in Augusta, Georgia this morning, we were so happy see such a lovely and beautifully decorated stage for our program! As it turns out, the principal of Wilkinson Gardens, Ricky Lumpkin is a veteran of the US Army! He used to serve as a logistics officer, and part of his job was to “set up” for the Army band, so he knew a thing or two about how to put on a good show! Mr. Lumpkin served in the army from the 1970’s to the 1990’s before turning his career toward education and investing in the lives of students. A veteran AND a teacher- exactly the kind of people that we hope to honor with our Super Citizen program. We thank Mr. Lumpkin for his service to our country, our students, and for his tremendous help with our program today!
After the program, we were able to speak with Ms. Tracey McManus from the Augusta Chronicle, and then the school had a nice reception area set up for us to speak with others who are interested in what we are doing at the Liberty Learning Foundation. It was so nice to be able to sit down and talk with some of the great people at Wilkinson Gardens while eating some yummy refreshments! (yes, even copper statues like refreshments now and then! 🙂 ) It was also great to get to know some of the teachers better and share our passion for passing on our great American heritage to the Next Great Americans!
Principal Lumpkin shared with us of his travels to other countries and how those experiences gave him a different perspective of his own country. He said that traveling abroad makes one realize the freedoms and security that we take for granted in the U.S. I realize that not every American has the chance or desire to do extensive travel to foreign countries, but I believe that the Super Citizen program can help even those who don’t travel abroad to appreciate the liberties that we enjoy in America- liberties that have been fought for and protected by people like Mr. Lumpkin and thousands of others who have served in our armed forces. We appreciate them all more than words can express!