ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) – It may be the off season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but cornerback Levi Wallace made a touchdown in at Acmetonia Elementary on Friday.
The school won an assembly with #29 through a contest with Austin Air Systems, a company that educates people on air quality and respiratory health.
“The message we really want to stress with kids is there’s a lot of things they can’t control when it comes to air quality,” Austin Air Systems Marketing Director Stacy Malesiewski said. They can’t control emissions and smog, but they can control things like not vaping.”
Air quality is also a passion for Acmetonia’s science teacher Mccall Emerick, the one who entered the school into the contest.
“I went online… got the email saying you entered the contest…jokingly came in the next day on the way to the lunch and said to one of the administrators here, ‘hey we’re getting an assembly next Friday so mark off 6th grade, we’re not going to be able to do anything'” Emerick said.
The teacher admits it was simply a running joke, and that she wasn’t too optimistic about winning with there being a lot of schools in the Pittsburgh area for Austin Air Systems to choose from.
“I still thought though, I mean what is there to lose,” Emerick said.
Emerick’s thought process was right, there wasn’t anything to lose as Acmetonia ended up winning the assembly with Levi Wallace!
“We honestly felt like we won the lottery, it was a really big surprise, a really great surprise,” Emerick said.
The win was a double surprise for principal Gregory Heavner.
“I was watching the news, because I had a board meeting that night, and I saw that they mentioned Acmetonia Elementary School and I said what!?” Heavner said.
Heavner said he had no idea that Emerick had entered them, but was glad she took the chance, as the assembly was just what the school needed.
“Coming off the pandemic, we didn’t have a lot of assembly’s so we’re getting our legs under us now, having a lot of people come in,” Heavner said. Kids need this, especially the second half of the school year get us kick-started, and this is like medicine.”
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Decked out in their Steeler’s best, students welcomed Wallace into the gymnasium with roaring cheers.
“They came in dressed up for a tailgate party! We represented! We 100% represented!” Emerick said proudly.
Wallace talked to students about his story, encouraged them to stay focused in school, took selfies, and of course, signed autographs.
“It’s always good just giving back to the community, especially kids, they look up to you like superheroes,” Wallace said.
The cornerback said despite this being his first year in Pittsburgh, this is just the beginning when it comes to giving back to his city.
“I think it goes back to how I was raised, and my parents,” Wallace said. “It was never about football. One day football ends, it’s about what you do with the platform. And so while I’m in this position now and while I have the recourses I can to give back, that’s what I’m going to do.”
