Laurels & lances: Applause, plead, respite

Laurel: To unintentional stardom. It is rare that the people behind the scenes in a production get a moment in the spotlight, but senior Noah Kessler did just that when it became his job to clean the microphone between acts at the Highlands High School “Fall Follies” talent show.

Little did he know that was just the start. Within days of the Oct. 21 event, a video of the show was getting raves online. Was it of singing or dancing? Nope. It was fellow senior Alli Love’s montage of Kessler spritzing the mic with disinfectant.

The best part of the piece isn’t the literal millions of likes it was receiving on TikTok. It was what happened after each spray. Cheers and applause. At a time when masks are dividing people from each other as much as from the coronavirus pandemic and precautions at school seem to be more often met with fights and protests, this auditorium was giving ovation after ovation for a guy just doing his part to keep others safe.

Take a bow, Kessler. You too, Highlands.

Lance: To another bad example. On Monday, Rev. Andrew M. Kawecki, 66, pleaded no contest to one count of indecent assault of an altar boy at St. Cyril and Methodius Church in Fairchance.

The Fayette County priest was charged in August 2020 but an investigation began in May 2019 and Kawecki was placed on leave at that time. The charges date back to 2004. The complaint details abuse that began when the victim was 11 and continued until he was 14.

Greensburg Diocese Bishop Larry J. Kulick is working to officially remove Kawecki from the priesthood.

Kawecki isn’t the first priest to commit such a crime or plead to it. He is a depressingly unsurprising example of the preying upon children put in the care of people they should have been able to trust, as well as a betrayal of the good men and women of the Catholic Church who have lived up to its ideals.

Laurel: A special day. A lot of attention is often given to children with serious illnesses as a way to help them through their fights. But what happens when the children are the bystanders and the parents are the ones with the illness?

One Day to Remember is an organization created by Rachel Antin, an oncology nurse at Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh who saw too many families struggling to have the time they needed to connect amid sickness that had put a very real clock on their togetherness.

“I could see they needed a respite,” she said.

More than 100 families have benefited by the organization over the last five years, receiving experiences like spa days, photo sessions and a VIP visit to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.