Lyric’s Corner at Upward Elementary

True to her name, Lyric Livingston had a passion for music. She couldn’t sing all the words, but she could follow a beat.

She also rock and rolled alongside her Exceptional Children bus rider, Todd Norgan, on their rides to and from Upward Elementary.

Lyric was a 16-year-old student in Upward’s intensive intervention classroom for five years, and managed to touch the hearts of many at the school during her short life.

In her memory, Todd Norgan and his wife, Diane, a teacher at Upward, donated a piece of special equipment to Westbrook’s classroom – in what is now known as Lyric’s Corner.

“Lyric Livingston graced our lives by blessing us with her sweet attitude and her ability to rock and roll,” Diane Norgan shared Tuesday during a dedication ceremony with the Livingston family.

“She loved music. It kind of went with her name,” Diane Norgan said. “(Todd) would buy CD’s for them to listen to on the way home.”

She said Lyric became a fan of her when the student found out Diane was her bus rider’s wife.

“I became, to a lot of these children, ‘Mr. Todd’s wife,’” Diane Norgan said. “I will never forget passing (Lyric) in the hallways.”

“She loved coming here,” Livingston said. “She knew when she got here she was taken care of.”

She and her husband, Scott, said Lyric’s favorite piece of equipment in the classroom was the sensory swing – which is now adjacent to the Crash Pad the Norgans dedicated to the classroom.

Westbrook explained the foam-filled Crash Pad is a valuable piece of sensory equipment used in occupational and physical therapy, and helps individuals with sensory processing difficulties.

She said, “It can help with body awareness with proprioceptive input,” which is usually obtained by lifting, pushing, and pulling heavy objects, but is difficult for children in Westbrook’s class.

“For our kids, it’s harder for them to work their bodies,” she said.

“This would have been awesome to have when Lyric was little,” Jen Livingston said. “And it’s going to help a lot of kids,” added Scott Livingston.

Jen Livingston said, “I just think that it’s amazing that people loved her so much to keep her legacy going.”

(Written by Molly McGowan Gorsuch, HCPS Public Information Officer.)