The ceremony began with the RISE Learning Center’s Performing Group sharing the stage with the Burkhart Elementary “All That Jazz!” choir for a medley of songs that ended with, appropriately, “Back Home In Indiana.”

Once the national anthem was finished, the sounds of race car engines filled the auditorium. The students at MOVE were asked to start their engines and the processional of MOVE students was underway. Gait trainers, mobile standers and wheelchairs came down the stage ramp, all with black and white checkered flags adorning the equipment. Parents, family members, teachers and other students cheered them on as they raced down the aisle.

While the ceremony included guest speakers and a video presentation, by far the most inspiring moment came with the remarks from one of the students, Jerica Johnson. Jerica is ten-years-old and a student in MOVE Site TrainerSM Michelle McKay’s classroom. According to Michelle, when Johnson was asked to speak, she knew exactly what she wanted to say and dictated the words to her teacher right away. Her remarks were:

“Hello my fellow members and welcome. Today I am going to show you my equipment that I use in the MOVE program. Thanks to the support of God, my aide, family, friends and therapists today I can walk. I can join my class in gym. I can run in my gait trainer. I know that for my graduation I will be able to walk because of the help of the MOVE program.”

With her heart felt and emotionally charged words when Jerica finished, the audience (through slightly teary eyes) could see the pride she took in her ability to walk and communicate.

At the end of the ceremony, Jerald and Therese Goebel, MOVE Site TrainersSM, were presented with a plaque officially designating RISE as a MOVE Model Site. It was a very special moment for the Goebels and the rest of the RISE staff to see how far the students had come in just one year with MOVE.

The RISE Learning Center has eight MOVE Site TrainersSM on staff: Jerald Goebel, Therese Goebel, Mary Kay Baker, Lynn Downing, Katrina Michael, Julie Opel, Amy Planalp and Michelle McKay.