Published: January 11, 2008 11:17 pm            

Penn Cambria believes in giving back

As a student working in the Penn Cambria School District, Joe Skura learned important lessons by watching others.

He saw the hands of principals and teachers guiding older students to become better people and to help others.

Skura then watched as the older students responded where help was needed.

Soon it was time for Skura and his classmates to do the same, and they did so by serving on various school committees.

What’s great about the Penn Cambria area is that concern for others has such deep roots that it has become a way of life, said Skura, a Cresson resident.

As Skura grew older, he became involved elsewhere in the region and found that those areas were the mirror image of his hometown.

“I think our region has the best people around,” the 25-year-old said.

A 2000 graduate of Penn Cambria High School, Skura keeps close ties to his alma mater, where he serves in many capacities.

His volunteer work at the school includes serving as adviser for the Chain Reaction Committee and as coordinator of the high school events calendar.

His professional duties at the school include being assistant coach for the varsity girls’ volleyball squad and adviser for the yearbook.

Working with the students is great, he said.

“If I’m having a bad day, no matter what, they (students) are able to lift my spirits,” he said.

“They are so kind and respectful. They involve me in everything.”

Outside of school, Skura has been volunteering to coach softball teams in the Mainline area for more than 10 years. He also has volunteered for five years with the Cambria-Somerset Outstanding Young Woman Scholarship Program.

Skura is vice president and public relations director for the local Outstanding Young Woman program and serves on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania program.

Skura said OYW is an important program because it showcases the brightest young women in the region and it teaches them life skills.

He said there are many fine volunteers with OYW who have a plethora of life experiences to share with the girls.

“I hate to be bored,” Skura said about why he is active. “I really enjoy people. I like to be around them.”

Skura said he is humbled by all the people with whom he is associated.

He said Guy Monica, a retired principal in the Penn Cambria School District, was a positive influence on his life. Skura said his teachers, who had a great influence on his life, inspired him to want to become a teacher.

Also having a positive impact on his life were his grandmother, Carol Spaid of Portage, and his parents.

Skura is a senior at Mount Aloysius College, Cresson, where he is majoring in elementary education, early childhood education and English.

He is a student teacher at Cambria Heights Middle School in Patton and Frankstown Elementary School in Hollidaysburg.

From 2000 to 2005, he worked as a journalist at The Mountaineer-Herald in Ebensburg. He left the newspaper to concentrate on his studies at college, but he continues to freelance for the sports department.

Jan Perehinec, a first-grade teacher at Penn Cambria Pre-Primary School and co-chairwoman of the local OYW program, said Skura understands that people are educated to serve others, which she described as the true essence of education.

Skura models that philosophy in the work that he does, she said.

Monica said that as a student, Skura always was volunteering at the school.

As an adult volunteer at the school, Skura made personal sacrifices in many ways to ensure that the cause the students are working for is a success, Monica said.

“The students are his top priority,” he said.

        

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