ORCHID: To Nancy Sampson, the home economics teacher at Bloomfield-Mespo High School for the past 55 years, for her enduring and impressive leadership over the decades of a community cookie drive that helps fund her program’s needs. Since its inception in 1977, the holiday cookie drive has raised about $50,000 for home ec supplies and operations. That’s $50,000 saved from the wallets of school district taxpayers. What’s more, the cookies, made and baked with heaping helpings of TLC by her students, have more than satisfied the sweet tooths of Bloomfield-Mesopotamia residents, with orders totaling as many as 1,500 dozen in some years.

ORCHID: To the Lordstown Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in the Mahoning Valley that participated in the mutually beneficial Shop With a Cop program during the holiday season. In Lordstown, children in the community traveled to Eastwood Mall’s Target via police cruiser and limousine to pick out holiday gifts and necessities. The value of the program cannot be overstated. It enables children to interact with police officers in a fun and trust-building setting to counteract negative perceptions they might have developed from outside influences. It also strengthens bonds between law enforcement agencies and communities by proving police are deeply invested in the welfare of the residents they’re sworn to serve well beyond their official duties.

ORCHID: To the Howland Board of Education, literacy coach Sue Hardin and other educators in the district for completing and approving a promising PK-6 literacy plan that follows the guidelines of Gov. Mike DeWine’s Science of Reading program. The school system is aiming for a coveted Champion Award from the state to recognize its hard work toward improving literacy through the program’s components identified by the National Reading Panel. Other Valley school districts have reaped rich rewards from DeWine’s program, including Austintown Elementary School, a 2025 Champion Award winner that saw its third-grade reading pass rates zoom from 48% to over 80% last year.

ONION: To any and all hooligans who use what should be venues of competitive fun as playgrounds to instigate violent mayhem. More than five fights involving many people broke out after a recent basketball game between East and Chaney high schools in Youngstown. The altercations became so disruptive city police were forced to use stun guns to quell the disturbances. Though no students from either school were reported as among the ruffians, the disturbance nonetheless created chaos and turned an event meant for building community spirit into a source of fear and danger for students, families and staff of each school.

ONION: To owners of live Christmas trees who irresponsibly choose to set them out for the garbage collector to add to already overstuffed landfills. Instead, Trumbull County residents should opt to recycle their holiday trees through the sixth annual Community Christmas Tree Recycling Event, sponsored by Express Junk Removal. By doing so, the tree continues to contribute to growth – not waste – by serving as natural wildlife habitats for fish in area lakes and for other environmentally beneficial uses. To register to have your Christmas tree (free of all decorations) picked up for free at your residence Jan. 9, register at expressjunk

removal.com

ORCHID: To Youngstown Phantoms hockey star Cooper Simpson for his superlative play on the ice but, more importantly, for his compassion and commitment to the community off the ice by establishing the Coop Cares program in partnership with Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley. His initiative creates meaningful experiences for pediatric patients and their families by providing them with a memorable free night out at Covelli to watch a Phantoms game, complete with a personal video from Simpson and a Coop Cares T-shirt. To date, forward Simpson ranks second in overall scoring in the 16-team U.S. Hockey League. In his community outreach and support to Valley families, however, he clearly ranks a standout first.

ORCHID: To the Cleveland Browns Foundation, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and Harvard University’s Proving Ground program for improving public school attendance through their sponsorship of the statewide Stay in the Game Attendance Network. As part of the program, Chomp, the Browns’ mascot, and Steely McBeam, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ mascot, recently visited Campbell City School District’s K-6th grade building to honor participating students. That visit and other perks provided through SIGA have helped to boost attendance there and at other participating schools in the Mahoning Valley and the state. Cheers to the students and SIGA for expanding the valuable assets of regular attendance: academic success, higher graduation rates and development of crucial life skills.