Well it's Thursday evening, and I'm at home about to whip up some din and I hear a "da da da daaaaaa" sound from my phone.
Nothing out of the ordinary, just my local news app letting me know something is going down in my area. Awesome. I swipe down to check out what the headline is, andddddddddddd instant eyeroll... Just another update on this Plum teacher sex scandal. Seriously? How long has it been now, is the horse not dead? Of course not! This is news! This is media-worthy!
And I get it...trust me..I get it. I have nothing but the highest respect for all journalists. The job is not all glitz and glam behind the cam. It's hard work. So hard that I decided to drop my Broadcasting major right in the beginning of my senior year of college.
I was way more into the glitz and glam.
So just to be clear that my issue here is not with the news outlets for covering this juicy story, my issue is with all the brainless boneheads who have nothing better to do than leave a pathetic comment on Facebook like "wow that school is a mess." There are many others that are 100,000 times worse than that, but I'm a classy gal and don't want to repeat such filth.
My other issue is with my fellow mustangs sharing these stories with the caption "way to go Plum" or "good look, Plum" as if the entire community of Plum Borough played a part in such a horrific thing.
For those of you who fall into issue #1 and have never even stepped foot in Plum Senior High or any of the schools in Plum School District, let me educate you for a hot sec.
Since 2000, Plum School District has raised almost $800,000 for the nonprofit that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions that we all know as Make-A-Wish. No other school district in the country has raised more money than Plum. That's right, the country. The big U.S. of A.
Luckily this amazing fact gets highlighted every year when it's time for the annual Make-A-Wish Telethon. Tune in for the 17th Annual this December!!
Let's get into some other, maybe not as well known facts about Plum:
Plum School District has been in the top 5 AP Honor Roll of Western PA School Districts since 2011...being #1 in 2011 (graduating class, say whaaaaat!)
Plum Senior High offers an array of college credit courses for a very reasonable amount. I'm taking like $50 for 1 credit. That's just simply unheard of in college. My little brother graduated high school with 16 college credits. That's already one semester he has completed that he will not have to pay for at the outrage university tuition prices.
Plum School Districts offers an amazing athletics department and theater!
Plum Athletics competes in several sports at the junior high and high school levels including: football, baseball, lacrosse, rifle, softball, volleyball, wrestling, track and field, swimming, and many more. AND several of these student athletes go on to receive scholarships offers from Division I and Division II, III colleges and universities each year.
Some of of Plum'shighlights from the athletics program include:
Lauren Ferragonio -Offensive Lineman, Pittsburgh Passion
Pat McAfee - Punter, Indianapolis Colt
Scott McGough - Pitcher, Miami Marlins
R.J. Umberger - Forward, Philadelphia Flyers
Did you know that last years performance of Shrek won three Gene Kelly Awards? One being for Best Musical. And this year they are yet again nominated for many others. I mean it was in the news, but it came and went just as all news does.
I mean I can continue to sit here and recite fact after fact that makes Plum School District amazing, but luckily we have the internet and if you'd like to know more you can head on over to google.com. That's my personal fav.
Now let me address my issue #2 peeps. Hey guys. Why are you feeding into this nonsense and hatred? Yeah, high school sucked and being there sucked and the teachers sucked, and everyone knew Mr. Ruggieri had a thing for the pretty ladies.
But we're all doing pretty well now aren't we? Some of us got into amazing college like Pitt, Penn State, Cornell, Baylor, Georgetown, CMU, etc. etc. etc. Others who didn't take the college route and maybe studied a trade or are working full-time, that's awesome! I am friends with a lot of you on Facebook and when you're not ranting about Donald Trump or sharing Plum sex scandal stories, you all seem to be pretty happy with your lives. I guess I don't really have an issue, I'm just here reminding you that we're all mustangs here. We all proudly wore purple and gold at one time, so let's back our community rather than rag on it.
Before I conclude this letter, I just want to say that the quote "it only takes one (well in this case two) bad apples to spoil the bunch" is very true in this situation. I had some of the most amazing teachers from Plum School District, some I even keep in touch with today. I felt protected under the supervision of the principals I had during that time, and I am fearful for what could happen if power is granted to those who hold certain positions now.
My open letter was not to start any fires or cause any controversy. I just wanted to speak up for good ol' Plum Senior High because it's been a heck of a year in the press, and I figured why not give it some credit where credit is due.
Sincerely,
A Plum Mustang
