On September 30 Devonte Smith '09 was presented with the Sandy Alomar Jr. Community Award. Devonte’s scholarship will help him work toward his goal of graduating from Kent State University with a degree in Nursing. While at Saint Martin, Devonte’ worked at Henkel, now known as Shur-Tech, in Avon. Below is an edited and excerpted version of an email sent from Executive VP Tom Bennett, to the members of the Saint Martin community, describing his experience that night.
After the first game of the doubleheader, we met Sara Lehrke and Steve Frohwerk of the Cleveland Indians. We went to the right field foul pole, held a giant check, and had pictures taken. We were on the jumbotron while the PA announcer did a two-minute presentation about Saint Martin and Devonte’. Devonte’s Mom was crying in the background, I was near tears, and Devonte’s Dad just had the proudest look on his face.
Then, as we began walking back up to the party deck area, it happened. The three sections around us all stood and gave Devonte’ a standing ovation. At that point, I cried with Mom. WHAT A MOMENT!!!!
After the game, we went to dinner at the Winking Lizard downtown for a celebratory meal. To hear Devonte’ talk about his experiences at Saint Martin and how they changed him forever was a moment I will never forget.
Tonight put all the heartache, heartbreak, and hard work in proper perspective. It was nice to step out of the forest for a moment! This is a powerful reminder of why we do what we do.
0 comments:
Post a Comment