Seventh-graders at Derry Area Middle School missed out on a trip to Cleveland’s Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame because of covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

But, as they completed an inter-disciplinary, music-related lesson unit at their homes, they found time between the musical notes to pen written notes to residents and staff at the Loyalhanna Care Center in Derry Township.

Guided by language arts instructors Nancy Palko, Steven Shaw and Rebecca Feldbusch, and inspired by the classic Bill Withers song “Lean on Me,” some 120 students drafted and illustrated about 70 encouraging notes to help cheer the center’s residents during the pandemic. They also wrote more than 120 letters to express support and gratitude for front-line workers at the skilled nursing facility.

Submitted electronically, the notes were printed by Derry Area staff and were delivered on Monday to the care center near Latrobe.

Like many other long-term care facilities, Loyalhanna Care Center has been hit hard by the covid-19 virus.

As of Tuesday , state health officials reported 30 confirmed covid-19 cases among the center’s residents and 18 among the workers. Six of the cases had ended in death.

Center administrator Kelly Pynos has disputed those figures. She has reported 20 confirmed cases among residents and 21 cases among staff.

Shaw said some students “made connections to the workers because they have their own family members who are essential workers risking their lives. Other students commented about how brave they thought the workers were.

“It was clear to us that these workers were the perfect front line staff to receive ‘Lean on Me’ letters.”

One Derry Area student acknowledged in her letter that covid-19 has “taken a big toll on the world,” but she told the worker who received it, “without your help and all you’ve done for everyone, it could be so much worse.”

A second young writer shared a favorite quote: “The greater the storm, the brighter the rainbow.”

Another included photos of the horses she rides to stay happy during the pandemic.

Jennifer Battaglia, a teacher in the school’s business, computer and information technology department, had her students in grades 6-8 also write to residents at the Loyalhanna Care Center — as well as the Bethlen Communities Rehabilitation Center in Ligonier, where her father is in quarantine.

“The sincerity of the students’ words and positivity of the overall messaging and artwork they included shows they really took the lesson to heart,” Shaw said.

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