Finding his footing: Officer bonds with kindergarten student (2024)

Jan. 24—SPRING TOWNSHIP — Ask Ray Collins about his "little buddy," Conneaut Valley Elementary School kindergartner Mason Consider, and you're sure to get a smile, but perhaps not as big as the one Consider inspired earlier this month.

Collins, a school resource officer for Conneaut School District, knew something was up on Jan. 11 when school nurse Tami Bossard told him to wait outside the office where Collins usually spends about 10 minutes checking in with 6-year-old Mason before school begins. Mason, who uses a wheelchair due to a mild form of cerebral palsy and other challenges, had a surprise for Collins.

"I didn't know what it could be, but I was certainly looking forward to it. Then in about a minute or two, here he came around the corner in his new walker, walking towards me in that thing," Collins recalled Tuesday. "I was just so proud of him, and he was just smiling from ear to ear."

Despite the surprise of seeing Mason standing in his new gait trainer mobility assistance device instead of sitting in his usual wheelchair, Collins — who is also head coach of the Meadville Bulldogs football team — acted quickly.

"I'm an old football coach, so I stood at the doorway between the (main) office and the nurse's office and said, 'You've got to get to this finish line, buddy — if you want your treat, you've gotta make it the whole way to me,'" Collins said. "He was so determined, he made it the whole way through the nurse's office and got to the finish line and I gave him a big hug."

The two formed an almost instant bond when Mason and Logan, his red-headed fraternal twin, began attending school last fall. The two boys are the youngest of four to Betty and Victor Consider of Springboro, and for Mason, the beginning of the school year came just a few months after surgery to address instability in his hip joints. The gait trainer will help him develop strength in his legs and abdomen as he improves walking skills that were delayed due to the hip instability.

"He's just such a sweet young man — he's got some physical limitations that he just doesn't let get to him," Collins said in explaining how the pair hit it off. "I was so taken back by his positive attitude, the infectious smile on his face, the little giggle.

"He's always so excited to see me," he added, "it just makes my whole day."

Seeing the bond between the two has affected others as well.

Until last year, Adam Jardina was principal at the school. Now the district's curriculum director, Jardina still periodically stops by Conneaut Valley on his way to the central office in Linesville and usually talks to Collins for a moment when his visit overlaps with the couple days each week that the officer starts his day in Conneautville. During the fall, Jardina gradually began to notice that each morning he spoke to Collins, the officer seemed to disappear after a few minutes. "Where is Ray going every day when I'm done talking to him?" Jardina asked himself.

The answer, Jardina soon discovered, was the nurse's office, where Collins checks in with Mason before school, often giving him some animal crackers or fruit snacks when the 6-year-old has good news to report about school — which is a frequent occurrence.

The former Pennsylvania State Police trooper and still-active football coach — "kind of a big, rough, tough guy," Jardina said, "a no-nonsense type of dude" — and the kindergarten kid in the wheelchair made for an unusual combination at first glance.

"Watching him interact with this little kid brought me to tears, for crying out loud," Jardina said. "Just watching his interactions was like, 'Oh my gosh, I wish people could see this.'"

Jackie Sada, the principal at Conneaut Valley, has watched Mason acclimate to the school environment over the past few months and couldn't help but see him and Collins developing into "best buddies."

As the only student at Conneaut Valley who uses either a wheelchair or a gait trainer, Mason's differences could have made fitting in with his peers a challenge. That hasn't been the case, according to Sada. It helps, she added, that besides being a hard worker, both Mason and his twin, Logan, "always have a smile on their face."

The boys' smiles have been there since virtually the beginning, according to Betty Consider, their mom. Unless Mason is worn out or feeling poorly, she said, "he's always got a smile."

It was a beginning that started early: Mason and Logan were born prematurely, a few days over 27 weeks into Betty's pregnancy, when Mason weighed just 3 pounds, 6 ounces. He spent the next 91 days in the neonatal intensive care unit at UPMC Hamot, Betty recalled, the precise figure still etched in her memory six years later.

The premature birth was followed by bleeding in his brain and a variety of physical challenges that have resulted in delayed physical development, though Betty noted that intellectually Mason is doing just fine.

"He's good at some stuff, not so good at others," she said. "If I'm being honest, he reads just a little bit better than his brother does — just a little. He's a bright little boy."

He's also adaptable and determined, Betty added. "If he can come up with a way to do it," she said, "he'll do it."

One thing he does frequently is report to Betty about Officer Collins and his time at school more generally. He struggles a bit with his fine motor skills, but he's excited to do work at home that he didn't finish at school and as he does so he sings the classroom songs he has learned, sometimes under his breath, sometimes in an outside voice.

"He asks me every day when he gets home, 'Do I have school tomorrow?' — I don't even have him off the lift for the bus yet," Betty said.

Contacted after his nap Tuesday, Mason declined a request for an interview, but he did confirm that Collins is "an awesome guy."

It's unclear how Mason's continued physical development will progress, according to Betty. He attends weekly physical therapy and will continue using the gait trainer at school. Numerous variables will shape the future, including hard-to-predict bone growth in his thighs and hips. Additional surgery could be needed, but for now the family has grown accustomed to a well-worn watch phrase: "Only time will tell."

"If I was in his shoes — ," Betty said, pausing to consider the obstacles Mason faces each day and the lack of independence that accompanies them. "He doesn't seem to let any of that bother him."

That quality helps explain what drew not just Collins, but Conneaut Valley staff members and his fellow students to the new student last fall.

"Everybody really embraces that little guy," Collins said. "He's taught everyone in that school a lesson about waking up every day with a positive attitude and a smile on your face, enjoying life — because that's what he does."

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.