By NORINE ROWE
NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs Department

PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, MD—Launching the sixth year of a Navy-education partnership, NAVAIR’s Aviation Division has joined students at the newly renovated Lexington Park Elementary School for a partnership renewal ceremony and kick-off for the school’s character education program.

During the early October event, the school’s “peace flag” was raised to promote a peaceful day and encourage students to resolve conflicts in a peaceful way. The students also celebrated “Respect Day” to launch the school’s year-long character education program.

Taking part in the flag-raising ceremony, partnership signing and Respect Day program was Capt. Stuart Paul, executive director of the Aviation Division.

“Why do I and the NAVAIR tutors come to your school?” Paul asked the students. “Partly because of the respect we have for you, and partly because you are very important children.”

Signing the partnership agreement with the school, Paul encouraged the students to do well in the year ahead. “Have a great year and have fun,” he said.

Also speaking at the event was Elfreda Mathis, principal of Lexington Park Elementary.

“Captain Paul has been a very good friend of Lexington Park Elementary for a very long time,” Mathis said, explaining that he brings other NAVAIR “friends” to the school as mentors and tutors. Mathis also focused on the importance of respect and other positive character traits in establishing and maintaining a good learning environment.

“Our mission is to educate and inspire all students to learn in a safe, respectful school community,” Mathis said, explaining that respect, caring, fairness, responsibility, trustworthiness and citizenship form the six “pillars” of character education that students will focus on in the year ahead.

After her remarks, the students sang a song about respect and then stepped onto the podium to share what respect means to them. Afterward, they formed a school-wide “chain of respect” that connected all the students together by links of yellow construction paper bearing students’ names and their definitions of respect.

Currently, 17 employees from the Aviation Division serve as volunteers at Lexington Park Elementary. In addition to tutoring and mentoring, the volunteers host a Christmas lunch for students, sponsor a Christmas gift drive for needy school families and provide an end-of-year picnic for students at Pax River.

“I’m really proud of our military and civilian employees who donate their time to this important cause,” Paul said.

—USN—

Elfreda Mathis, principal of Lexington Park Elementary School, signs a partnership agreement with Karen Ladner, NAVAIR's partnership coordinator, and Capt. Stuart Paul, executive director of NAVAIR's Aviation Division. The agreement, signed Oct. 8 in a ceremony at the school, launched the sixth year of this Navy-education partnership.

Photo by Norine Rowe