By Raphael Maurice

For Michelle Lang, Meridian’s strength consists of uniqueness and that special something.

Michelle Lang graduated from Meridian in 1997. One of her sons, Michael Lang, graduates this year, and her oldest son graduated back in 2020. Meridian is Michelle Lang’s vocation. To see the school and community improve and shine is top on her list of goals. And, as a board member, she’s learned that her ideas and those of the others around her are important. These ideas are heard, and while being on the board can be complicated, all members are seen. As to the dynamics of a board meeting, Lang notes, “I felt I could help or put my opinions in. Once you get in that position, you realize that things  are not as simple as what you think. So it's definitely been a learning situation for me.” To continue to learn until we go on to wherever it is we hope we’re going is admirable. To never stop learning, to admit we’re never finished: Lang understands this and lives it, in her 2nd term of board service.

While her decisions and the decisions of other members directly affect those around them, Lang understands the nuances and difficulties of getting everyone together: “It's not just cut and dry. It's never black and white. There's that gray area, and it stays gray most of the time. When you have several people, it's a good thing. But it's also difficult at times, because everybody has their own views and opinions on different aspects of life.  But I think everybody works really well together. I think everybody tends to have that same goal, which is the children.” And isn’t that the goal? The kids? What’s best for them is best for everyone, the school and community. The children aren’t just the future. They are now. And Lang is helping them each step of the way. Right now.

What is it about Meridian that makes this place sacred? For this writer, the town in which I live, admirable and pretty in many ways, has those certain families or tribes that, if you aren’t a member, you lack access to certain advantages. It’s not like that in Meridian, though. Lang, commenting on what makes this place itself, notes, “We don't have a lot of the cliquish stuff around here. Everybody's kind of on the same playing field. Everything works better now. Because you don't have so many divides. I think we have people who love and adore the kids and would do anything in the world for them. And that's the main thing.” It almost sounds like a utopia, Meridian. Where the children are thought of, considered, and ultimately happy. Isn’t that the goal, too? Lang thinks so.

Utopias aside, troubles arise in any place, and Meridian is no different. There needs to be shoulders to sob on, adults to lend an ear, and in the end, kids need to have skin in the game, as it were, with their own school and community. When asked about what makes Meridian work well in this aspect, Michelle tells us the following: “I think you see a difference in the kids and the pride they have about things and just the appreciation and the fact that they know that there're outlets that they can go to when they have problems.” To be able to go somewhere (and to someone) with your problems, rather than inhaling your worries and tears. That’s really something; something important and good. Lang knows this, as we all should. We should be stewards for the children. Right now. And a good deal of gratitude is involved as well.

On the topic of thankfulness and gratitude in general, Michelle Lang sees Meridian for what it is, even though it goes under the radar for a lot of folks. We're just lucky to have what we have here. A lot of people don't know. They really really don't appreciate it. I think people don't actually know how much we appreciate it.” She’s been a clerk at the courthouse for 7 years, has seen a lot of things, has worked hard both in and out of the boardroom. When we think of Michelle Lang, we think of being grateful, of working hard, of heeding the vocation’s call. Plus, there’s her utter celebration of diversity and originality when it comes to Meridian and the kids. “You know, normal is just a horrible word,  in my book. I like ‘unique.’ Everybody has their own something to give. That something is in the faces of the kids, and it manifests in the work of Michelle and others. Everyone is unique. That might sound like a platitude, and maybe it is, but it’s one that comes alive in Meridian. Normal, whatever that nebulous word might mean, is out. Michelle Lang is there to celebrate its disappearance, and the emergence of beauty in that something, in that wonder.