The "Returning To Your Roots" Story

LDub with former student Doug Sing.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing next to one of my former students while another graduate of Manheim Township High School, where I taught, is holding my camera looking at the digital display to make sure he has us both in the picture.  Over the many years I taught Graphic Arts and Photography in the high school to juniors and seniors, I had many hundreds of students.  Then, add on those that I had on my yearbook staff for 32 years as well as the students that I coached in football for a few years and  the kids I had on my championship rifle teams.  Today, no matter where I might be, I tend to run into one or more of my students no matter what the occasion.  Standing next to me today for a photo is Doug Sing.  Lieutenant Douglas Sing to be exact.  I had Doug in class shortly after I began teaching at Manheim Township.  He was in my Graphic Arts class in his junior and senior years as well as taking architectural drawing in the classroom next to mine.  During his free time he volunteered for the Southern Manheim Township Fire Company which is an all-volunteer company.  After graduating in 1973 he entered York College majoring in criminal justice.  Two years after he entered York College he was hired by the Manheim Township Police Department while still a student.  Eventually, after graduation, he went to work full-time for the police department and after 36 1/2 years on the force, retired with the grade of Lieutenant.  Doug is now in charge of security for the Manheim Township School District, working in all of the schools.  He has two full-time Manheim Township police officers, one in the High School and one in the Middle School.  He also has about a half-dozen full-time security aides that he manages.  Doug has come full-cycle, as have over a dozen others including myself, graduating from the school district and eventually coming back to work for the district.  Doug was always a first-class person and it certainly is the school district's fortune to have him as part of the staff again.  As for me, I'm glad to get to talk and work with him again.  Makes me feel so much younger!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.