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F.M. Kirby Center and Anna Cervenak to be honored by Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce

Bell Furniture owner plans improvements to Wilkes-Barre store to boost downtown

<p>NANTICOKE &#8212; Mr. Usavage, your son pumps gas and he&#8217;ll always pump gas.</p><p>Those words spoken by a principal to the parents of David Usavage, then a senior at Wyoming Valley West High School, served not to discourage, but to inspire the spunky young man who, indeed, continued to pump gas &#8212; throughout his subsequent graduation from the West Side Career and Technology Center and four years spent at King&#8217;s College where he obtained a degree in English with a minor in education.</p><p>This year Usavage has stepped onto the Luzerne County Community College Board of Trustees, bringing with him a love for education, an understanding of young people and extensive experience as an administrator.</p><p>&#8220;LCCC is the largest college in our area with students who are likely to stay local if they graduate,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I am honored to be a part of that.&#8221;</p><p>Usavage, who also serves as vice president of the Wyoming Valley West School Board and as president of the Luzerne Intermediate Unit, officially retired from teaching in 2009, but his commitment to community and to education keeps him beyond busy in his life of service.</p><p>As the first member of his family to obtain a bachelor&#8217;s degree, Usavage&#8217;s career reflects not only the ability to administer effective programs, succeed politically and teach children from grades kindergarten through 12, but the ability to help students overcome obstacles, succeed in spite of the doubts of others, live their dreams.</p><p>Even while doing his undergraduate work and working at the gas station, Usavage had an opportunity to write sports for the Sunday Independent from 1972 to 1989.</p><p>After graduating from King&#8217;s in 1976, he got a job as a substitute teacher at the West Side Career and Technology Center.</p><p>During that time, he remembers teaching every single subject, except cosmetology.</p><p>&#8220;Let me be clear,&#8221; said Usavage, smiling. &#8220;I would have taught cosmetology, but the cosmetology teacher just never took any time off.&#8221;</p><p>In 1978, Usavage because the co-op teacher at the Center, a position he held for 11 years and was among his favorite jobs.</p><p>&#8220;The program provided opportunity for students to learn basic academics, while also holding jobs, making money and acquiring marketable skills,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Again, Usavage was involved in an educational process which was a bit outside the box, meeting students when they were working in their fields, benefiting them both in the short and long term.</p><p>Usavage, always up for a challenge, was then asked, &#8220;What do you know about state and federal programs?&#8221;</p><p>His answer, &#8220;Some, not a lot,&#8221; landed him a job overseeing those programs at Wyoming Valley West.</p><p>Although sitting behind a desk with a support staff had its perks, Usavage had another idea. He was open to another change that would seemingly move his life in a considerable different direction.</p><p>&#8220;I became aware that a first-grade teaching position had opened up at Schuyler Ave. Elementary School,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And I applied for it.&#8221;</p><p>He remembers telling the then superintendent, &#8220;I want to go and teach first grade.&#8221;</p><p>That position, that willingness to stand in front of a classroom, to wipe runny noses and teach the most basic of concepts, is what &#8220;Mr. U.&#8221; is remembered for by hundreds of students, support staff and teachers who witnessed the positive effect on his students.</p><p>&#8220;I know they learned,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I know that tests scores improved throughout the years, and that my students learned to love reading.&#8221;</p><p>Again, Usavage&#8217;s methods were unorthodox. Rather than simply send a reading list home to study, he videotaped the list and used a rocket ship theme to encourage memorization of those key words.</p><p>Usavage seemingly valued every member of the educational team from other teachers to support staff to therapeutic staff support provided to assist behaviorally-challenged students. When someone walked into his classroom, they seemed to immediately know they had value, to know they had potential and to want to work to be their best selves.</p><p>For 13 years, Usavage taught first-graders and then kindergarten students, not only their ABCs or how to add simple numbers, but the tenets of good character and the value of helping others.</p><p>When Usavage retired in 2009, he didn&#8217;t retire from something, he retired <em>to </em>something: the opportunity to be available for service, to offer his knowledge and experience to the educational community, to be a better neighbor.</p><p>In addition to that bachelor&#8217;s degree he received many years ago against all odds, he also holds a Master&#8217;s degree in education from Temple University, a Master&#8217;s degree in reading education from Marywood University, a principal&#8217;s certificate from The University of Scranton and a certificate of superintendent eligibility from Widener University.</p><p>Even though he now sits on the LCCC board with those he calls &#8220;some of the most intelligent people I know,&#8221; Usavage boasts not in the diplomas and certificates that hang on his wall, but in the input he has into the young lives he has overseen and educated throughout his career.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Usavage_David_J-5062301-012R.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">David Usavage </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Usavage_David_J-5062301-012R.jpg</photo0><caption0>David Usavage </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Geri Gibbons</p><p>ggibbons@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Geri Gibbons at 570-991-6117 or on Twitter @TLGGibbons</p></shirttailMeta></div>

David Usavage, newest LCCC board member, commits himself to service