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On This Date: Bishop Hoban won the District 2 Class 2A baseball title in dramatic fashion in 2003

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Renowned trumpet player Bobby Baird participates in ‘Taps Across America’

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Tim Lavelle confessed it had to be weird for most people answering when he knocked or rang.
				&ldquo;Wearing a mask, They don&rsquo;t know who I am,&rdquo; he said.
				Kathy Genovese said it had to be even odder because they weren&rsquo;t wearing their usual teacher outfits. Lavelle had on unmarked black T-shirt and shorts, she at least wore a R that said &ldquo;GAR Memorial High School Grenadiers.&rdquo;
				Yet as they helped deliver personalized congratulation signs to GAR seniors Wednesday, the students they have taught saw right through the masks, figuratively, at least.
				&ldquo;This is Andrew Koonrad,&rdquo; Lavelle said before approaching the front door. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very good student. He&rsquo;s going into law enforcement.&rdquo;
				Koonrad smiled the moment he came to the door and saw Lavelle, chatted, and posed with the sign. He joked that he may keep the sign for life. &ldquo;That way, 40 years from now, it&rsquo;ll look like I&rsquo;m still a teenager!&rdquo;
				Genovese had similar praise for Timothy Wielgopolski, a math student through three years, including Advanced Placement Calculus. He&rsquo;s heading to Wilson College and a psychology degree. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always been very hard working.&rdquo;
				Asked about keeping his sign, and, you know, maybe setting it up next to his shingle when he establishes his own practice, or putting on the wall along with diplomas in his office, he laughed.
				&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; he said, pointing out his is the penultimate class to graduate from GAR, making the sign a limited edition. Plans call for GAR to merge with Meyers and Coughlin High Schools after next year, in a new building under construction. &ldquo;This will be worth money some day!&rdquo;
				At some houses no one answered the door. At Jeremy Simon&rsquo;s house, a neighbor beamed upon hearing about the signs, but said she thought no one was home. Turned out she was wrong, as Jeremy came to the door wearing a Misericordia University sweatshirt. He&rsquo;s heading there next year with an undeclared major, but is leaning toward medical imaging.
				All told, about 20 teachers met around 10 a.m., took assigned routes of seven or eight student homes each, and fanned out across the streets of Wilkes-Barre delivering signs.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the least we could do,&rdquo; Genovese said, noting she helped organize the prom that has been cancelled. &ldquo;These students worked so hard.&rdquo;
				Like school districts statewide, Wilkes-Barre Area is grappling with how to make graduation memorable in the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
				&ldquo;They deserve something special,&rdquo; Lavelle said, &ldquo;Even if it&rsquo;s special in a different way.&rdquo;

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GAR teachers deliver graduation signs, well wishes to students