Thursday, August 18, 2016
ODDLY ENOUGH
‘Wake up!’ Red Sox star records calls for kids
BOSTON
Nothing like a pre-dawn phone call from Red Sox slugger David Ortiz to get you out of bed in the morning.
At least that’s the idea behind a Boston Public Schools initiative that starts next month, when middle- and high-school students will be able to sign up for wake-up calls from Big Papi.
“Wake up! It’s David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox. Get out of bed and get ready for school. Your future is yours,” he says on the calls.
The 40-year-old All-Star designated hitter has said he’ll retire after this season. He leads the majors in slugging percentage, on-base average and extra-base hits this year.
Boston schools superintendent Tommy Chang said recently the goal of the Ortiz calls is to help kids get to school on time and fight absenteeism.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh called it a “fun, outside-the-box” approach to a chronic problem. Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Education says more than 6 million students – 13 percent of all school-age Americans – missed at least three weeks of school in the 2013-14 academic year, the most recent for which figures are available.
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said he hopes the calls, which are being offered free of charge, will help “inspire, motivate and encourage” children to attend school. The calls will be available in English and several foreign languages, though Ortiz won’t be speaking all of them.
Xaquiel Martinez, a ninth-grade student there, acknowledges he was tardy to school nearly every day before getting the wake-up calls, which helped him get out the door on time.
‘Miracles can happen’: Ring found in Lake Michigan
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich.
Jamie Kennedy needs to make room for another wedding guest: the man who found her engagement ring in the bottom of Lake Michigan.
John Dudley, the president of a metal-detector club in western Michigan, fought strong waves and scooped up the ring after getting a signal. His reaction? “Oh, my gosh.”
The discovery was made in July, two days after Kennedy lost the ring while trying to wash sand off her fingers at the beach in South Haven.
WZZM-TV reports that Dudley reached out to Kennedy, a Decatur resident, and offered his services. Kennedy says she “practically walked on water” when Dudley gave her a thumbs-up to indicate that he’d found it.
She says “miracles can happen.”
Associated Press