Swope honored for her 'phenomenal speech'

NORWALK — Amie Swope spends most of her time during Norwalk City Schools board of education meetings behind the camera filming it for the internet and a YouTube video. Swope is director of instruction and technology for the Norwalk City School District Tuesday night, however, she was front and center as she received a certificate from Robert Ward and members of the Huron County Veterans Services for her participation in this year's 9/11 ceremony at the Huron County Veterans Memorial. "We are here tonight to do a pretty special presentation," Ward said. Ward said his group didn't start planning until the third week of August so everybody was in overdrive, including Swope. "We did not give her much time to plan for this ... she stepped up and did a fantastic job as our keynote speaker," Ward said. "In 19 years we have heard a lot of perspectives on 9/11 ... it was a phenomenal speech ... it was very powerful." Swope talked about being in the new Norwalk High School that morning when news hit of the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City. Cable and the internet weren't even hooked up yet in the school so all they had was a radio to listen to. "In my classroom, I had a small CD player with an AM/FM radio. I raised the antenna, placed the radio near the window, and tuned in to a news station while my students sat in silence at their desks, waiting for CBS news radio to tell them what was happening to our country," she said in her speech. "They hoped that I would explain the inexplicable because I was the senior government teacher. They expected, with good reason, that during a national crisis, an attack on our homeland, that I would be able to explain what was happening. "But I couldn't. Like everyone else, I was stunned and speechless. A room full of high school seniors, all of them at or nearing the age when they could be called upon to serve or defend their country, faced me with expressions of shock and bewilderment as we listened to the radio just as generations before us would have listened to news reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor," Swope said. "It was a long day of listening and seeking information. Both towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had already been hit before the students and teachers at Norwalk High School knew our nation was under attack. We shared the nation's tension as we listened and awaited the fate of the fourth plane that would crash in Pennsylvania." Ward thanked her for sharing her story. "She hit a home run," Ward said. Cary Ashby from the Huron County Veterans Services office said the speech was "absolutely eloquent. It was amazing. I was just blown away. "What was amazing to me ... was as you are processing this horrific event, you also have to answer questions from students and help them make sense of it themselves," he said. Also speaking at the meeting was Derek Pigman, a teacher at Norwalk High School who earlier in the day helped with the mobile pantry at Norwalk Middle School, sponsored by Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio. "Incredible site to see so many people show up to get the food and Gary Swartz and members of the NTA there helping out to pass out the food," Pigman said. "For the school to allow them to use our facilities I can't express how grateful I am for letting us do that." Superintendent George Fisk talked about the early weeks of school during a pandemic. "I can't thank our staff, students and families enough for the way they have embraced the protocols," Fisk said. "Our schools are operating phenomenally." Fisk talked about being at the high school and talking to a group of students. He asked them how it was going, especially wearing masks. "One of the boys said 'I'm just happy to be in school,'" Fisk said. "We made the right decision to be in school five days a week. I ask our community to keep doing their due diligence with their COVID procedures."