As part of the Cambria County America250PA committee’s plans to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial, local artist J. Andrew Jacobs designed and created the torch to show students how Cambria County contributed to building the country, said Nicki Waligora, the committee’s chairperson.

The torch’s design showcases the county’s flood and coal mining history, as well as the Johnstown steel mills and inclined plane.

Waligora said the committee thought it was important to engage with the county’s youth, which is how the idea of a traveling torch came about.

Prior to arriving in Portage, the torch was at the Greater Johnstown and Conemaugh Valley school districts, and it will be brought to other districts in the county for a week between now and May, she said.

Cambria County America250PA committee chairperson Nicki Waligora lights the county’s Liberty torch Monday during an event. The torch will remain at Portage Area through Friday before it’s passed to the Windber Area School District next week. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

According to the Visit Johnstown website, from March 16 to 20, the torch will be at Penn Cambria; from April 27 to May 1 at Northern Cambria; from May 4 to 8 at Central Cambria; and from May 25 to 29 at Cambria Heights.

Throughout this week, Portage Area social studies teachers will discuss the importance of America250PA and take their students to see the torch, said Jeremy Burkett, the junior-senior high school’s principal.

While it’s important for students to understand American history, President Commissioner Scott Hunt said he thinks it’s also important for them to be actively involved with the semiquincentennial celebration.

“I think most of our ideals and dreams of what America is and what it can be for each one of us starts when we’re young, so I think it’s really important,” Hunt said.

As part of that initiative, Waligora said students in every school district participated in an essay contest in which they wrote about the Declaration of Independence, choosing from topics about what it means to why it still matters today.

Cash prizes will be awarded for the top three essays in each of two age groups — one for students in the fourth through eighth grades and one for the ninth through 12th grades.

According to Burkett, Portage Area has three students who have been selected to move forward in the contest, including junior Fiona Shi, who read her essay, “Generations of Dreams,” to those in attendance.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he took inspiration from multiple works, including John Locke’s idea of natural rights, Shi said.

The fundamental freedom of being able to challenge the government is what led to the civil rights movement and the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, she said, noting the law was “extremely important” for her family and immigrants of different ethnicities.

Both of Shi’s parents grew up living in poverty in China, she said, adding her maternal grandfather came to the United States in the 1980s and worked hard to provide money for his family back in China.

He later brought his family to America after receiving his green card, Shi said, noting her mother didn’t know English when she came to the country as a teenager, but that didn’t stop her from studying hard and passing her United States citizenship test.

“I was born in the United States and never experienced poverty, though because of poverty and immigration, my parents never had proper schooling,” Shi said. “My parents leaped into the unknown and chased the American dream so future generations, including me, can get an education and never go hungry.”

If the Declaration of Independence never exercised the right to challenge the government, the civil rights movement might not have been successful, Shi said.

“If that was the case, that means the strict quota for non-European immigrants would have still existed. Therefore, I would have been born in China, living a completely different life,” Shi said.

Superintendent Pete Noel said the district is proud of Shi and all of its students who participated in the essay contest.

“We don’t like to just talk to kids, we want them to understand and be part of the process,” Noel said. “So, having that essay contest and being able to do something like today’s event is a true way to help integrate the meaning behind the 250-year anniversary of our country.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.