ST. PETERSBURG, FL — On any other weekday in April, Frederick Harmon would be standing at the head of his fifth grade classroom at Blanton Elementary School in St. Petersburg, showing the students how to create ball-and-stick models of molecules or teaching them how to multiply fractions.
But this isn’t a typical April, and Harmon isn’t a typical teacher.
A sergeant with the Florida National Guard, Harmon was deployed to West Palm Beach on March 24 to assist the Florida Department of Health in the war against the new coronavirus.
The 35-year-old school teacher was in his classroom gathering materials to prepare to teach his students online when he received the message that his National Guard unit had been activated.
This wasn’t the first time Harmon had been deployed for duty during his 18 years in the Florida National Guard. He served in both Afghanistan and Qatar. But this is the first time he’s left his wife and 2-year-old daughter on their own to face a global pandemic.
“It’s been hard,” he said. “We stay in contact and do a lot of FaceTime, but I really miss them.”
His wife is a teacher at Pinellas Central Elementary School.
“My wife’s kind of a superwoman,” he said. “She’s teaching virtual school while taking care of our daughter, and she’s doing a great job of it.”
A substitute teacher is filling in for Harmon at Blanton Elementary School, providing online lessons.
“But I keep in touch with my students. They send me messages and text me saying they miss me and are proud of me,” he said. “This is their last year in elementary school, and it’s a little sad that we won’t have a chance to end the year together.”
In this new reality, Harmon’s days are spent at Palm Beach International Airport, where he’s charged with keeping track of passengers arriving from coronavirus hot spots. He records their personal information and destinations in case a passenger tests positive and everyone on the flight has to be quarantined.
It’s not quite the same as searching for insurgents in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the enemy tried to remain hidden. In the war against the coronavirus, the enemy is invisible. There’s no way to predict when and where it will strike. Therefore, the meticulous record keeping done by Harmon and other guardsmen is a crucial line of defense.
“The people here really seem to appreciate what we’re doing,” he said. “I’ll be stopped at a red light and look over to see someone in the next car waving at me and mouthing the words, ‘Thank you.'”
Harmon was recently chosen as one of the National Guard’s “Faces of the Fight” for his service during the coronavirus pandemic. The “Faces of the Fight” campaign highlights the men and women serving their country in the battle against the virus.
Other Pinellas County teachers are using social media to send inspirational messages to their students while schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tyrone Middle School’s Center for Innovation and Digital Learning produced a YouTube video. The video was produced and edited by teacher Ayla Horan. Teachers Karissa Herb and Shardelle Goshay and students Jayla Hoptry and Destini Rentz participated in its creation.
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