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Courtesy of Laurie King.
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Jerome Lewis, Crestline Elementary's late head custodian, was loved everywhere in the community with his influence extending far beyond the walls of his school. To honor his memory, members of Crestline Elementary recently created The Jerome Lewis Legacy Award.
"We knew when Jerome passed away last summer that it was going to leave a sizable hole in the culture of our building," said Josh Watkins, assistant principal of Crestline Elementary.
The award was designed to embody Lewis and his personality.
Watkins said last year, a few weeks before Lewis passed away, he visited Lewis at his home to talk. "I asked him, 'What do you think about?'" he said. Lewis told him he often thinks about his legacy and how he hoped to have impacted others by encouraging them to make a positive change in their life.
"You have to know him that it wasn't an arrogant statement — he wanted people to better themselves in all areas of their life," Watkins said. "For us ... it's kinda honoring his last wish that people remember the good that he did."
The tag line for award is "Blessed and very grateful," which Watkins said is in remembrance of Lewis' typical response to those who asked how he was doing.
The award grew organically over time, Watkins said, with many members of the Crestline Elementary community working together to create an award that exemplified Lewis' character.
According to the school, recipients of the award should demonstrate a strong work ethic regardless of circumstance; choose to have a joyful disposition in every task; seek to ensure that other people’s needs are held above their own; possess a humble spirit in their interactions with others; serve as an encourager to all; inspire others to find the greatness within themselves.
"The general sentiment of the teachers is this is a very appropriate step to take in honoring his legacy," Watkins said, adding that he even had several students approach him and ask him to do something to honor Lewis. "It's been a positive response to what we're doing here."
Members of the planning team decided the award would be presented to a staff member since they will have been at Crestline longer and will have a stronger connection with Lewis than most students.
"In seven years, the children who are here now will be gone, and they won't know who Jerome Lewis was," said Watkins, acknowledging Crestline's students are excellent, too. "But for a really long time, someone will have a direct connection to Jerome, and that's what really sold us to this being a faculty award."
Watkins said they received a lot of nominations for the award and narrowed down the pool to four finalists who were then voted on by the teachers. On May 1, superintendent Dr. Dicky Barlow will announce the winner of the first-ever The Jerome Lewis Legacy Award, an award that Crestline will continue in the future.
"We're just really excited to be able to honor Jerome's legacy," Watkins said. "Regardless of who wins, just the list of nominees and the finalists, I think he would be proud of every one of those people."
