Representative Cao Visits Franklin

In January the Close-Up Washington, D.C. students from Franklin visited Representative Cao at his office in the capital. At that time he expressed a wish to visit Franklin and meet with the students, faculty and administration. On Monday April 19th Representative Cao arrived on the campus in the morning and was greeted by both students and staff. The Congressman presented the school with a flag that was flown over the capitol building in recognition of Franklin’s designation as a National Blue Ribbon School for the 2009 -2010 school year. Dr. Rusnak the school’s CEO/Principal accepted the flag on behalf of the students and expressed thanks emphasizing that the Blue Ribbon Award was a reflection of the hard work that Franklin students have done over a number of years. The Asian-Pacific Club officers then presented Congressman Cao with a traditional Vietnamese gift. Officers of both the Franklin Republican and Democratic Clubs greeted the congressman with a sign welcoming him to Franklin in both English and Vietnamese. Dr. Rusnak next took Representative Cao on a tour of the school campus to view the progress that has been made to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina which flooded the school with two feet of water. Dr. Rusnak showed the Congressman pictures of the storm’s damage. The volunteer efforts of students, staff and alumni to reopen the school where discussed. The principal also spoke of the many volunteers who came from around the country to help Franklin rebuild. Dr. Rusnak pointed out the courtyard area which still has not been rebuilt and expressed the hope that the local, state and federal agencies involved could speed up the process for fixing the courtyard. After the tour, the Congressman met with students in the library for about thirty minutes to answer their questions on health care, immigration, Katrina recovery efforts and mass transit. The session with Representative Cao was the highlight of his visit for the students. The Congressman then left Franklin after Dr. Rusnak thanked him again for his visit.