By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

NORTH SHELBY—Patriotic music drifted through the halls of Oak Mountain Elementary School as third graders welcomed State Senator Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, on Nov. 20.

Students performed three songs from their Veterans Day program for Waggoner, including the National Anthem.

“I’m having trouble talking, I have a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye,” Waggoner said. “You were really good.”

Two student leaders led Waggoner on a brief tour of the school. Third grader Alyssa LaCally showed the state senator a bulletin board display of the Leader in Me program’s seven leadership habits.

“The whole idea and the legwork was all her,” OMES Principal Debbie Horton said of LaCally’s project.

LaCally covered the nearly floor-to-ceiling bulletin board with hand-cut and colored words and numbers, and she distributed materials throughout the school so other students could add to the display.

“The diversity we have here is so celebrated all the time,” Horton said. “They take everybody’s ideas and differences and combine them… that’s what synergy means.”

During his visit, Waggoner presented the school with a $2,500 check to be used for any educational purpose. Horton said the money will be used to support and develop the school’s Leader in Me initiative.

“I want you to know how fortunate you are to go to a school like this,” Waggoner said to the OMES students. “You have the best teachers, the best facilities, the best library, you have the best of everything. You’re getting the best start you could get in the state of Alabama.”