An alien named Mr. Oppa Lippus visits Mahoning Elementary School. He is 10 feet tall with 4 pairs of eyes, 3 noses, 3 mouths, 8 arms, and 2 pairs of legs. He lands his spaceship on the playground. The students are surprised but unafraid of him. He introduces himself and shares that on his planet, Barnick, there is only love and understanding. He stays at the school, hugging students with his 8 arms and answering their questions. The students want him to stay and be part of their school community.

1. A Visitor Comes To Mahoning Elementary

2. One day in a little town of Lehighton, PA., a space ship landed on the playground at Mahoning Elementary School. Out walks this alien---

3. Let me describe this alien to you. He was huge, about 10 feet tall, not very nice to look at. I guess it was because he had 4 pair of eyes, 3 noses, and 3 mouths. He also had one huge ear! His arms, well, he had 8 of them. And two pair of legs. But after you have met him, you realize he must have at least 10 hearts.

4. The alien walked out of the space ship and walked into the school. Mr. Sebelin greeted this strange creature and this strange creature made a friendly gesture by opening up his arms. As in a hug! The alien felt that his space ship came to this spot for a reason and the reason was to make friends with all the Mahoning children. Mr. Sebelin thought this might be a little scary for the children but the warmth of this creature just oozed and he knew he had to introduce him to everyone.

5. Mr. Sebelin started talking to him and asked if he had a name. He said his name was Mr. Oppa Lippus and that he traveled a long way just to meet the Mahoning students.

6. Meet Mr. Oppa Lippus

7. Mr. Sebelin started with Mrs. Merluzzi’s room. “I have a friend out in the hall very anxious to met you. He is different but you’ll soon realize that he is warm and loving and wants only to be your friend.” Mr. Sebelin opened the door and asked Mr. Oppa Lippus to come in. All the students were mighty surprised but they weren’t afraid.

8. Mr. Oppa Lippus introduced himself to the children and he learned their names very quickly. They were coloring and he asked, what they were doing. And Jordyn told him that they use crayons to draw and then color the picture. He took 8 pieces of paper and a bunch of crayons and started to color. In no time at all, he had 8 different pictures beautifully done.

9. All the students were surprised to see how well he could draw. Then Tyler asked him about his world. Mr. Oppa Lippus stated, “In my world there is only love and understanding among all the creatures existing there. No matter how we look or what we do. We also have a rule that no one could complain about anything. Always be positive and make the best of every situation.” Now for PREP K, this wasn’t too much of a problem because they also see our world as a happy and peaceful place.

10. Mr. Oppa Lippus reached out his arms and hugged everyone of those students. All at the same time with his 8 arms.

11. Mr. Sebelin and Mrs. Merluzzi laughed at the sight.

12. Mr. Sebelin wanted to have all the other students meet Oppa but PREP K didn’t want him to leave their room. Nicholas and Willow asked him if he knew how to read. He said I know many languages and learned to read in every one of them. Being educated is also very important to my people. We love to learn and we love to share. Brandon and Bryanna asked him a silly question. “How many brains do you have?”

13. Mr. Lippus answered telling them that he has only one brain but his body has more than one heart. We need many hearts to store love and compassion and don’t forget we have many limbs that need to get blood circulating to them. John wanted to know the name of the planet he was from. Mr. Lippus stated it isn’t in your galaxy. Our planet is called “Barnick”. It took a long time to get here and I don’t think I’ll be able to go back because I don’t have enough fuel in my space ship.

14. Mr. Sebelin stepped in and said now it is time for us to let Mr. Oppa Lippus met all the other students here at Mahoning.

15. All the students were assembled in the all purpose room and then Mr. Sebelin brought Mr. Oppa Lippus inside. The students just looked in amazement. Mr. Lippus’s arms reached out to everyone of them and touched their heads. As he touch them, they felt the warmth and love coming from within him.

16. He started to speak about his world and ask them if he could live in our world. He said there has to be lots of love, compassion, and understanding. He asked them if they could go a whole day without complaining or being grumpy. Not a one raised their hand. This was upsetting to Mr. Lippus because he knew he would have to live in the school’s backyard in his space ship. As he looked around the room each and every student saw his disappointment. And within seconds, I believe every one in that room yelled, “ Give us a chance, we want you to be a part of our school.”

17. Now bad habits are hard to break but everyone at Mahoning felt the love of this creature and because of that great love, they felt secure in themselves and it didn’t take long before they all felt that they had more than one heart. What a wonderful world we live in now that Mr. Oppa Lippus came to Mahoning Elementary!