The annual Chamber of Commerce banquet was held on April 16^th this year. The evening started off with dinner and light-hearted jokes from Joe Atz while he and Mayor Handshoe spoke about the growth that the city of Kendallville has seen in 2014. Since 2009 when Kendallville’s unemployment rate hit its all-time low of 18%, it has raised significantly, and in 2014 was at 5.3%, almost a whole percentage point lower than Indiana’s average of 6.1%. The Chamber of Commerce is “very proud to present this information to the community.”

Author Mitch Albom was the guest speaker at this event. He has done a lot of great things with his career, mainly including sports journalism, writing, and running his charities that span from his hometown of Detroit all the way to Haiti. He is best known as an author for his novel Tuesdays with Morrie about his experience with a lively college professor he once had. During his talk at the banquet, Mitch Albom mainly spoke of this novel, for it was his first novel and the most widely known to the audience, since many students from East Noble were there.

Albom first met Morrie Schwartz when he was enrolled in his Introduction to Sociology class as a college freshman. On the first day of this class he walked in, realized how small the class was, and attempted to leave when Morrie started roll call. Albom says he was halfway out the door when he heard his name and decided to turn around. He says, “Had I kept walking, I guarantee you I would not be standing here today.”

Mitch and Morrie got along splendidly throughout his college days. They took walks around the campus together, ate lunches of Morrie’s favorite egg salad together, and at the time of his graduation, Albom decided to get Morrie a present for being such a great teacher and friend to him. He gave to Morrie a briefcase, with his initials carved into it. Albom says, “I didn’t have a dime to my name at the time. It was probably the cheapest briefcase in town, but the way he looked at it, you would’ve thought I had given him a brick of gold.”

After graduation, Albom failed to stay in touch with Morrie, even though he had promised the man that he would. After sixteen years of living his life and doing great things with his career as a journalist and columnist and winning all sorts of awards and getting bigger paychecks and living large, Albom sees his old professor, Morrie Schwartz, on an ABC Nightlife special on a Friday night. He was being featured because he had been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Albom decided that he would call his old professor like he had promised so long ago to do. At the end of the conversation, Albom is left with plans on flying out to Morrie’s home in Boston to pay him a visit. “Guilt is a very powerful motivator,” Albom admits.

His one visit turned into a series of visits, every Tuesday, for the rest of Morrie’s limited life. It was in these visits where Morrie, a dying man, refused to give up the rest of his days. Every day he would spend in his home office, even when he needed the help of nurses to carry his shriveling, useless body there. Morrie said to Mitch, “A man in bed is dead.”

Even in his dying days, Morrie gave. When people would visit him with the means of consoling a sick and dying man, they would leave crying about their own lives, their own jobs, their own families, their own problems. Morrie says, “Giving makes me feel like I’m living.” People came to comfort him, but left being comforted by him. Morrie did not take from the world, he gave to it. ENHS English teacher Mrs. Arnett says, “I was very impressed with Mitch Albom’s message of ‘giving is living.’  We need to remember that giving of ourselves is the best gift and is necessary to live a fulfilling life.”

Morrie taught Mitch Albom many wondrous things, which he writes all about in his book. However, even Mr. Rickey, an English teacher here at ENHS and an outstanding member of the Kendallville community, learned something new about his book. Albom confessed that he only wrote the novel with the intentions of paying off Morrie’s medical expenses, so that his family would not have to suffer financially from his sickness. Mr. Rickey says, “It’s incredible. I cannot believe that I’ve taught the book for as long as I have without knowing that,” and one of Mr. Rickey’s AP students, junior Taryn Campbell says, “that makes the book even more of an inspiration.” Many ENHS teachers were present, including Ms. Schmidt, who says, “Mitch Albom  is a wonderful speaker.  I enjoyed listening to his account of Morrie’s life and his relationship with Morrie.  I look forward to reading more of his books.”

The Dekko Foundation provided 56 seats for East Noble students to attend this event. It was an incredible educational opportunity for them all. Junior Lucas Graden says, “What struck me the most was realizing that Morrie was a real person. Someone with real friends who affected real lives. Reading about him in a book created a kind of disconnect, but watching Mitch speak about him in person was a whole new experience.” Junior Katrina Kistler says, “He’s the best. He’s incredibly inspiring and anybody that didn’t come really missed out.” Freshman Jaden Digirolamo says, “The whole night was rather like floating on a cloud, surreal, and substantial in the same moment.”

At the end of the evening, Erica Dekko, Kendallville’s 2014 Citizen of the Year, announced that Mr. Fred Inniger who hosts WAWK 95.5 the HAWK and has been a teacher, coach, mentor, and trainer for his entire professional life is the 2015 Citizen of the Year.