Arts & Entertainment

Avon Lake's Garden of Empowerment Continues to Inspire

This garden at Avon Lake High School has added plaques honoring those killed in service.

In a courtyard at , surrounded by history classes, sits the Garden of Empowerment. The garden pays tribute to those who served the country, and those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, but also allows visitor to sit and reflect not just on the past, but the future as well.

The concept of the garden was born when a member of the Avon Lake High School Key Club, Zach LaFleur, was considering ways to remember those killed on 9/11. He placed more than 3,000 small U.S. flags outside the high school. Key Club adviser Gjergj Haxiu wanted to continue the tribute. He received the help of another student, Kelsey Hamilton, who obtained a $15,000 grant for the project, and the trio began building plans for the courtyard memorial.

“The garden represents that no matter what happened on 9/11, we’re going to continue this wonderful thing called the United States,” Haxhiu said recently. “We’re providing the community the best youth, the most educated, the most athletic, the most giving, so that’s what this garden means to me. Empowerment.”

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Haxhiu and Lisa Goodwin, who heads senior programming at the Old Community Firehouse, gave a tour of the garden on May 23, highlighting the numerous facets of the garden.

The tour featured a performance by Jmy T, known for his rendition of patriotic songs and original patriotic music including a tribute to Vietnam POWs. The tour was also taped for a segment on ALC-TV’s Jan and Jean show. Visitors were able to tour the garden which was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2009 and includes a 24-foot sculpture.

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The unique sculpture, created by artists Steve Jordan and Cis Ricchiuto, represents fire and twisted pieces of metal. The statue has three legs, one for each site where a plane impacted on 9/11. 

One arrow points to the portraits on one of the memorial’s wall where plaques of ALHS graduates killed in service are mounted. That leg, an opened pentagon represents the Pentagon in Washington.  Two “eyes” on a second leg represent members on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and their watchful eyes. The third leg, pointing toward history classrooms represents New York City.

The statue sits in a brick enclosed reflective pool. The plan calls for a spotlight that can shine upward at night. A corner garden in the courtyard contains a dogwood honoring ALHS  graduate Michael Medders. Medders was a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq.

Across the courtyard is a bed of roses for remembering 9/11 victims. The Garden of Empowerment carries a strong sense of patriotism. Hanging on the bricks above the bed of roses is a large American flag that flew over Baghdad on a military plane.

A stained glass window near the entrance to the high school bears the likeness of the Twin Towers.  

Three plaques, one for each Avon Lake High School graduate killed while serving now hang on a courtyard wall. In addition to a plaque for Medders, two other plaques honoring  Avon Lake High School graduates who died while in the military adorn the walls. One for Marine Capt. Jason Meiners (killed in a flight training mission in 2001) and one for Marine Cpl. Dennis Bergenstein (killed in South Vietnam in 1967).  

Donations for the Garden of Empowerment are still being accepted.

 To learn how to donate, contact Haxhiu at 216-375-4835 or by email at Gjergj.Haxhiu@avonlakecityschools.org.The garden is open after school hours on Mondays.


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