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2 | Traveller | June 13, 2013 | www.fortleetraveller.com
(RIGHT) Fort Lee family member Kristine Lee receives her diploma from Superintendent Dr. Bobby Browder during the commencement exercise at Prince George High School Saturday. Seving as the primary learning facility for Fort Lee students in grades 9-12, the high school presented 390 diplomas this year, and graduates were awarded more than $1.1 million in scholarships.
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(ABOVE) Members of the class of 2013 eagerly await the diploma presentations. The commencement exercise was scheduled to take place at the school football stadium but was moved inside due to the threat of rainstorms. (LEFT) Malik Vaughn enjoys the commencement exercise.
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Doug Davis proudly displays his diploma after the commencement activities. Christina Buckles, Royal News
www.fortleetraveller.com | June 13, 2013 | Traveller | 3
From left to right, Chandra Spitzer with daughter, Samantha, and husband, Sgt. 1st Class Robert Spitzer. Samantha is a recent graduate.
One step further T. Anthony Bell
Graduation just a beginning for teen with Rett syndrome T. Anthony Bell Senior Writer/Special Projects
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handra Spitzer said she was told by doctors that her daughter Samantha wouldn’t live past 2 years of age. When she reached 2, her life expectancy was changed to 5. When she reached 5, it became “‘She would never walk; she would never talk.’ “‘She would never learn anything.’” Now 18 years old, Samantha has survived the early-age setbacks of Rett syndrome, an incurable form of autism marked by slow development, decreased motor skills and problems walking. With the help of her father, Sgt. 1st Class Robert Spitzer, Samantha walked across the stage of the Prince George High School gymnasium Saturday to receive a state of Virginia special diploma. Her mom melted
at the image. “I was overjoyed when I heard her name being called and proud that her father helped her walk across the stage to receive her diploma,” said Chandra by email. “My mother was there to watch and cry with me with swirling emotions of pride, gratitude, thankfulness and just pure happiness. I couldn’t hold back my tears.” Samantha, who her father said is so affectionate “that she has no qualms about giving total strangers a hug,” has various disabilities related to her condition. She lacks motor skills, but she has learned to write her name. Her ability to walk is limited, but she was improved to the point of riding a bike with training wheels and walking a 5K. Her cognitive abilities are at the level of a young child, yet she has shown marked improvement in that area as well, said her mother. Despite all of her progress,
Samantha still needs care 24/7 and the support of her family members to live a meaningful life. The journey to provide that life has been a challenging one for Samantha’s parents and her five siblings. Spitzer, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, CASCOM, said his daughter’s ability to learn hasn’t been helped by the turbulence caused by a typical military career. “Obviously, moving from post to post has been a struggle for her, because, given the nature of her condition, she doesn’t like change,” he said. “So when she gets comfortable with say a teacher or teacher’s aide, she wants to keep things as they are.” he Spitzers have been assigned to other installations in Texas and Colorado and Samantha has attended at least seven different schools. With each change of
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station, each new house, new neighborhood, new school and new teachers, came the expectation that all she has learned at one location would be lost at another. “In a sense, she takes a few steps back when she enrolls in a new school, and she has to kind of work her way up from there,” said Spitzer. amantha has shown much improvement since being enrolled at PGHS three years ago. “I love her teachers,” said Chandra. “They’ve really done wonders for her.” Samantha knows her numbers and alphabet, said her mother, “and is talking a lot more.” She also uses an iPAD tablet, which has allowed her to explore more learning opportunities, said Chandra. “From what I’ve been told, she’s making complete sentences using pictures on the iPAD. It does wonders for her. I don’t have to try to figure out what she
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wants. She tells me now, and she never used to do that.” The Spitzers have gained the perspective that their daughter can learn, and considering that not much is known about Rett syndrome, have refused to submit to the notion that her intellectual growth is finite. Spitzer said he is determined to continue Samantha’s educational path, fueled by the progress she has made over the past few years and highlighted by small successes such as writing her name. “They (the teachers at PGHS) worked so hard with her fine motor skills,” said Spitzer, “so for her to be able to pick up a pen, even if it was hand-over-hand, and write letters, understanding what the letters are, understanding how to put them together and writing her name is just an unbelievable accomplishment given the level and pace at which she learns. When we saw it first with our own eyes, it was just mindblowing.” The Spitzers now have plans to home-school Samantha. “We will pick up where she left off (at PGHS),” said Spitzer, “and if we can manage to make things a little more complex just to see what she’s capable of, then so be it. It’s going to continue on. Even if we have to dedicate more years for her to intellectually grow, that’s what we’ll do.” The Spitzers haven’t ignored the social aspect of Samantha’s growth, either. Recently, she attended the school prom – accompanied by two siblings on each arm, said Chandra. Samantha has also been enrolled in the Special Olympics program. With the understanding that their daughter will not have a normal life, the Spitzers are working to ensure she has a meaningful one. Samantha’s graduation from PGHS is symbolic of their efforts – one small step toward the horizon of their daughter’s future. “She will never get married,” Chandra said of her daughter. “She will never have kids. “Her graduation is all my blessings rolled up into one.”
www.fortleetraveller.com | June 13, 2013 | Traveller | 5
4 | Traveller | June 13, 2013 | www.fortleetraveller.com
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6 | Traveller | June 13, 2013 | www.fortleetraveller.com
T. Anthony Bell Senior Writer/Special Projects
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I’m excited, but I’m also very nervous because I’m not completely sure what I want to do,” said 2013 Prince George High School graduate Kristine Cherry. She is the daughter of Sgt. 1st Class Richard Cherry III, a small group leader at the Army Logistics University’s Logistics Noncommissioned Officer Academy. Although there is an element of uncertainty in Kristine’s future, her graduation nonetheless is her father’s gratifying assurance that he has helped set the course for her fledgling flight into adulthood. “It’s kind of humbling,” said the single parent, “because someone who I helped to create has gotten older and is becoming an adult.” A native of North Carolina, Cherry might be described as a pragmatic Soldier who loves his family, the Army and golf. He also carries a sense of humor and is candid enough to use phrases such as “There are no secrets here” and “It is what it is.” he 45-year-old Soldier said he is proud of his daughter’s graduation, especially considering the circumstances surrounding the achievement. Cherry had been married 17 years when his life was flipped on its end during the summer of 2010. That’s when he had returned to Hawaii from a tour in Iraq. His wife and children -- Rick, Kristine and Olivia – welcomed him back at a pre-dawn redeployment ceremony. The clan all returned to their quarters afterward when a bombshell was dropped. He remembered it this way: “We get back home at Schofield Barracks; we’re putting the bags down and my wife is going out the door,” recalled Cherry. “It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, and I’m like, ‘Where’s she going?’ My son and daughter said, ‘Dad, she’s got an apartment.’ I’m like, ‘You guys aren’t going with her?’ “‘No dad,’ the kids replied collectively, ‘we want to live with you.’”
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Contributed Photo
The Cherry family – 19-year-old Rick, 17-year-old Olivia, Sgt. 1st Class Richard Cherry and 18-yearold Kristine, who a 2013 graduate of Prince George High School.
Sweet journey Daughter’s graduation worthy of single dad’s trying road The redeployment-night conundrum sank Cherry. He descended from an adrenaline-pumped warrior fresh from a tour in Iraq to a sobered, single parent with three kids, including two teens, who were eager for his stabilizing presence. His initial response to the dilemma was superficial in nature: “OK, we’re going to make it happen.” Three years removed from the experience, Cherry has made it happen, but his journey has not been storybook. He said single parenthood has been transformative, enlightening and filled with a myriad of challenges that can amplify flaws and weaknesses. “Being a single parent is kind of tough,” he said. “There’s a lot of things I’m not very good at. It took me three times to pass college algebra, and my daughter always has algebra homework when she comes home. It’s very, very hard to
help her with it, but we try.” Needless to say, there is more to parenthood than helping the kids with math. Cherry said he has had to deal with plenty of issues mothers typically tackle. “There are some things that go on with females that I really don’t have all the answers to, and there are cues that I don’t pick up on like with feminine products” Cherry said, noting his daughters prefer the use of a code word when referring to such items in public. or the more serious issues such as “proms and guys and stuff,” Cherry said he turns to a support network – his fellow female Soldiers and civilians at the LNCOA. “They’re great” at offering advice, he said. On the other side of that, he said his daughters know who he is and “If he needs schooling on an issue,” they are more than willing to teach.
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Then there are some things that can’t be taught and are better left to a woman. Cherry said he remembers his mother’s ability to nurture and wishes his kids could benefit from the same. “My mom was great – a school teacher, very supportive,” he said. “That’s one thing I felt bad about the past three years; not having a mom in the house. It does make a difference. I don’t care how good of a father you are or how good of a parent you think you are, it takes two and your kids need to see it.” Despite what his household lacks, Cherry said structure is not one of them. After being in the Army for 22 years, he knows how to make a schedule, establish goals and make a unit function cohesively. Eighteen-year-old Kristine said her dad has been a big help as she and 17-year-old Olivia dug into their academic requirements and
pursued interests in track and field and tennis, respectively, during the school year. “We have really busy schedules, and I come home at like 6 o‘clock after track practice,” she said. “He gets home the same time as me, and he sometimes will still make dinner by himself while I’m doing homework. The only thing I have to worry about are things like doing the dishes and cleaning up around the house. He’s my support system.” Cherry’s children support him as well. The oldest, Rick, made good on a promise to join the service last year to pay for college through the GI Bill, sparing his father the expense and allowing him to pass on his benefits to his youngest daughter. And Kristine sometimes goes along with her father when his presence is needed for the LNCOA’s community service requirements. “We work as a team,” he said. Team Cherry has one more member to ready for adulthood , and he said he has more than a few challenges with his youngest. “My big project now is to get her out of the mirror and show her the real picture – show her the real world where all of her friends are walking around with iPhones and she still has a slider,” he said with a tinge of comedic sarcasm. “That’s where the rubber meets the road.” livia’s naive adolescent experiences, however, were probably the farthest thing from Cherry’s mind Saturday morning when the PGHS commencement exercises were held. Cherry conveyed that he felt a sense of accomplishment and pride that he supported Kristine’s transition into the next stage of life. The crossroads moved him to remember in a flash who she was and what she had become. “I saw that little girl with a big smile holding my hand on the first day of school,” he said via email. “I saw the t-ball player; the gymnast; the cross-country runner; 16-yearold driving her car for the first time; the volunteer; the graduate; and the adult.” Kristine plans to attend Richard Bland Community College in the fall. She has not yet solidified her career plans.
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www.fortleetraveller.com | June 13, 2013 | Traveller | 7
T. Anthony Bell Senior Writer/Special Projects
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he has it all mapped out: Join the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Virginia Tech and study engineering; fulfill her five-year obligation to the Air Force; attend either Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Cambridge to study energy technology and earn her master’s and doctorate; and work for the Air Force as a research scientist. “From then on, it’s a bit unclear,” she concluded. That rough,15-year plan belongs to 18-year old Midlothian High School graduate Naomi ButlerAbrisirorr, who rattled it off with a certain level of conviction and assurance. Such confidence doesn’t surprise her father, Staff Sgt. Evan Butler. “There’s nothing that she can’t do once she puts her mind to it,” said the Charlie Company, 832nd Ordnance Battalion platoon sergeant. “She’s got the organizational and adaptability skills and the time management thing down to a tee.” Those attributes were likely factors in Butler-Abrisirorr’s selection as a 2013 Gates Millennium Scholar. She was one of 1,000 seniors named nationwide and one of only 12 from the state of Virginia. The GMS Program, funded by computer magnate Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, serves to provide minorities lacking adequate financial resources with “the opportunity to reach their full potential,” according to its website. The scholarship can essentially fund an education up to a doctorate degree, which alone costs an average of $250,000-$300,000 at a public school. Butler-Abrisirorr said the GMS has been a long-standing goal. “I’ve wanted this award for about four years,” she said, “so when I actually got it, it was honestly a dream come true.” How did she get selected? Butler-Abrisirorr attributes her scholarship award to faith, family, sheer drive and an 8th-grade
them, and only half would actually make it through,” she said. “I realized that I became really anxious looking at all the posts every single day, keeping up with everything they were saying, looking at their stats and how great they were.” he stats, which ranged from acceptance rates of applicants to Ivy League schools, their range of community service and the like, were intimidating to Butler-Abrisirorr and she suffered something of a burnout. “I decided to just quit the Facebook group and not look at it until the results finally came out,” she said. Butler-Abrisirorr was resigned to getting her news via the U.S. mail system. She knew a small envelope from the GMS program would indicate non-acceptance while a larger one meant you were accepted as a scholar. A few days after she got word the selections were made, a mere trip to the mailbox turned into a celebration. “When I saw this huge envelope, I was ‘Ah!’ she recalled. “I just pulled it out and ripped it open and it said, ‘Welcome to the GMS family.’ “‘Yes!’ she exclaimed. “I just dropped to my knees right there, then ran back inside and cried with my mom.” Her mother, a native of Peru, wept at the sight of seeing her daughter so happy, but she was cautious. “I told her to sit down,” said Lucila Butler. “We need to read and really see if you are the winner.” After the confirmation, Lucila called her mother, a pastor in her home country. They all prayed and ‘thanked God.’” Staff Sgt. Butler received the good news at his office and shut his office door “because I don’t allow my Soldiers to see me get emotional,” he recalled. “I’ll admit I was kind of tearyeyed. Thank God. Everything she worked for the past four years – all the time she’s given up – it finally paid off for her.”
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T. Anthony Bell
Staff Sgt. Evan Butler with his daughter, Naomi, and wife Lucila.
‘It finally paid off for her’ Family member selected for lucrative Gates program epiphany that allowed her to see the world from her parents’ perspective. “I don’t know if it was because of puberty or anything,” she recalled. “I just realized everything that they did for me – money was tight – and that if I wasn’t a good student, I wouldn’t be able to go to college. I realized that most people in high school don’t become aware of that until their junior or senior year. I knew that I would have an advantage.” Armed with her newfound wisdom, Butler-Abrisirorr put a plan into action that would transform her from being a “kind of lazy” student to a motivated, opportunistic one. That meant taking algebra in middle school rather than high school, joining the International Baccalaureate program, taking on as many leadership positions as she could in a variety of programs and participating in extracurricular activities. One of those activities, the
Homework Helpers group she supported as a junior, was among Butler-Abrisirorr’s most significant community service efforts. “What we basically did was collect a certain amount of students who would go every Wednesday to tutor kids from an elementary school near a trailer park,” she recalled. “We helped them with anything they needed – math, reading and writing.” The teen said she has also volunteered to spend time with the elderly, was a member of a prior school’s ROTC program and has held positions as secretary and fund-raiser chairman for her robotics team at Midlothian. t the root of all her efforts was the fact that she was a military family member who has attended six schools in three different parts of the country, endured separations from her father and sacrificed many long-term relationships. All of it has helped Butler-Abrisirorr
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develop coping skills and a broader view of the world around her. “It made me more open-minded,” she said, “becoming familiar with different countries and travelling to different states.” On the other hand, it wasn’t always hunky-dory. ButlerAbrisirorr said she has had her share of tribulation. “There was a constant frustration that I had,” she said, “because I moved so much. I never got to keep friends ... I was always the new person everywhere I went.” Despite the negative aspects of her military upbringing, ButlerAbrisirorr pushed on to fulfill goals. Those goals were manifested in the hopes and aspirations she had for the GMS. It was such that she was brimming with anticipation during the process of selection, following a Facebook page daily to keep updated on selection news and following finalists for the award. “There was about 2,000 of
8 | Traveller | June 13, 2013 | www.fortleetraveller.com
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Mikayla, you have achieved so much in a short time. Treasure the past, enjoy the present and embrace the future. Love you bunches and very proud of you. We love you MSG David P. and Stephanie Faughnan to Mikayla As our Heavenly Father is proud of us for the job we have done; we are proud of you. Congrats on your accomplishments and acceptance to Old Dominion University. CW5 Ronald and Barbara Biddle to Malik Juggling school, work and sports she was able to graduate with honors and be accepted into Howard University. Her hard work and determination fills my heart with joy. So very Proud! MSG Sandra J. Harrison and Michael R. Harrison Sr. to Michaela We are very proud of Ashely, she has overcome many obstacles growing up and has always come out on top. We couldn’t ask for a better daughter. Continue to follow your dreams! CW4 Amy and Lonnie Jones to Ashely I’m extremely proud of you. As you go off to college this fall, remember to always keep God first, stay focused and stay sweet! Also, I’m just a text message away.... love you, mom. SFC CT Moss to Ebony We as parents cannot express how blessed we are to have a daughter who is always energetic, full of
life and dedicated to her education. ful, loving, talented young lady. We are proud of her achievements Looking forward to your aweand looking forward to continuing some future. Albin and Jeanine her journey of life. Majewski to Amanda Staff Sgt Michael and Charlina Lilly to Nakia Congratulations to my son We are very proud of our son not Shawn Broughton. We are very only because he has traveled a long proud of you! This is not the end road to becoming a high school but the beginning! CWO 3 Raymond L. graduate but also setting the exII and SSG(P) Teameco ample for his peers with excellent Broughton to Shawn behavior, perfect attendance, and maintaining the A/B honor roll durWe have never been prouder of ing his school years! Andre T. Merchant and Ryan! He worked very hard to get Tori Burse-Merchant to this day. This isn’t the end for about Demontrel Burse him, but just the beginning of a wonderful future! SFC Gregory and Billie We are proud of the considerate, Holsclaw to Ryan caring and happy young woman our daughter has become. She is a For every ending there is a new bright and shining star with an unbeginning. There is nothing that limited future ahead of her. Ret. MSG Jason E. and you can’t accomplish. I am so post employee Kimberly very proud of you! Post employee James K. Fritz about Morgan Breeding to Abbigail Congratulations as you start the Tiara, I am so proud of all of next phase of your adventure! We are all very proud of you and know your accomplishments. You have you will do great at JMU. Go Dukes! grown into a beautiful and brilRet. LTC Robert and liant young woman. I love you, post employee Sandra the sky’s the limit! Aim high! Yalonda Sturtevant, mother, Bungarden to Kathryn to Tiara Fennell, daughter Jasmine, we are so proud of you. Jordan is a fine, outstanding We ask you to keep working hard, to stay strong and to not be afraid young man. He is always lookof making your mark. We love you. ing at ways to help others. This is SFC James and SFC verified by being voted most valuJessica Byrd to Jasmine able player on the varsity football team in his senior year. Ret. Air Force MSG Amanda, we are so proud to call Hector and Tenia Reyes you our daughter! We have enjoyed about son, Jordan watching you grow into a beauti-
Class of 2013 continued
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Congratulations Leya. You have completed an integral portion of your journey! Wishing you God’s grace as you continue to fulfill your dreams. We love you, Lawrence, Glenna McVoy and Joi Justice, we are so proud of the young lady you have become and your many accomplishments in school and the community. Remember to pray and put God first in all things. Ret. 1SG Leroy D. Jr and Kimberly Evans to Justice We are proud of him. He is a go getter, always positive and taking care of people. We ae happy he chose to further his education at Old Dominion University in their nursing program. We love him so much! Ret. MSG Terrance Sr. and post employee Dedra Carter about Terrance