Students at Winsor Hill Elementary School last week learned valuable lessons about life during what many people categorized as one of the most successful and informative Reading Week in the school’s history.
The week-long event, which featured a different theme each day and included Principal Amy Burns, Student Support Coordinator Melinda Witt-Izzo, Winsor Hill’s PTO, guest readers from the community including proud parents, police officers, firefighters, television celebrities and a now-famous dog that prevented a tragedy by finding a boy who has been missing for 36 hours.
“Our PTO came up with the amazing theme for the week — ‘Read Now, Succeed Later’ — our students enjoyed special presentations as well as spirit days,” Burns explained. “We are so grateful to the many community members who volunteered to make Reading Week such a wonderful, rich experience for our students.”
As the first-year principal — who spent last year as an assistant principal at JHS — went on: “The presentation by Rhode Island State Police Corporal Daniel O’Neill and K-9 Ruby truly highlighted the importance of persistence and following your dreams. We’re all excited to watch the movie now that we’ve personally met the real-life inspiration.”
Last Thursday, large groups of Winsor Hill students led by their teachers, filled nearly every available seat in the cafeteria watching with keen interest — as well as listening — to Trooper O’Neill talk about how he was told he’d never be a state policemen and explain how Ruby was given up for adoption five times because of behavioral problems and has since become the headliner of a Netflix film titled “Rescued by Ruby” that memorializes the relationship between the trooper and the Australian Shepherd/Border Collie.
It was that story, Winsor Hill’s faculty concurred, that perhaps best described the final day of Reading Week Spirit Day — “When I Grow Up” — and featured students dressed as the career to which they aspire.
“We had several community members in uniform to greet students with high fives as they arrived at school,” Burns said with a smile on her face. “It was a great way to end an eventful Ready Week. We’re continuously reinforcing the impact that reading has on future success.”
Likewise, each of O’Neill’s impressive presentations concluded with an interesting question and answer session between the trooper and students who marveled at the one-time 2018 Dog of the Year.
O’Neill’s talk, that came with Ruby by his side, also reinforced and age-old adage: “You can be anything you want to be” along with a one-time sports cliché “You can’t quit, you have to keep playing.”
Which is exactly what O’Neill did. He said he had a lot of difficulties in school and struggled with reading yet always tried his best and persevered through difficulties. He set a goal that he was going to be a Trooper, even though he was told he’d never become one.
“Danny took that negativity and turned it into a positive,” Witt-Izzo offered. “He (was) accepted to the RI State Police Academy on his first try and at conclusion of the academy was awarded the prestigious Lt. David Diaz Award for being chosen by his classmates as the most selfless trooper.”
As for Ruby, who was a shelter dog for eight months and she was given up for adoption five times because her behavior couldn’t’ be fixed and was almost put down five times. Ruby’s storied success includes a tear-jerking story of finding the boy who had been missing for 36 hours and was ironically the son of a lady who once cared for Ruby at the shelter.
Thus, that lady contacted RI State Police in hopes they would take her on as part of the K-9 unit and they did and led to Ruby completing 540 hours of training and becoming a certified K9 officer.
All of which led O’Neill and Ruby to landing the National Search Dog of the Year and being flown to Beverly Hills where their amazing story and journey was recognized and put into a film titled “Rescued by Ruby.”
The film teaches larger-than-life-lessons and tells the story of Trooper O’Neill and a dog named Ruby. Their story also captured the hearts of students, staff and faculty during what now ranks as one of the most extraordinary Reading Weeks in the history of Johnston’s Winsor Hill Elementary School.
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