Members of the Harold O. Young VFW Post 2394 presented awards to several city employees during a banquet last Saturday, Feb. 18.

The VFW named Lisa Lord as Teacher of the Year, Lt. Paul Collina as Firefighter of the Year and Robert Mann, the school resource officer, as Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. (Click on the link, at left, to view a photo gallery from the awards banquet.)

The awards program has been held before, but not during the past few years — the VFW resurrected the tradition this year under the suggestion of Robert Driscoll, commander of VFW Post 2394 and chairman of the Melrose Veterans Advisory Board. The VFW selected the three honorees, with input from department heads.

Law Enforcement Officer of the Year

The letter written to nominate Officer Robert Mann recognized his status as one of the founding members of the Melrose Police Department’s Color Guard, supporting veteran parades and ceremonies and firefighter funerals and more, as well as his membership in the Regional Response Team that responds to emergencies throughout Middlesex County.

“Law enforcement has been a lifelong passion for Officer Mann from his humble beginnings as an undercover store detective to his honorable service as a distinguished member of the 972nd Military Police with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan to his duty today as the school resource officer in his hometown of Melrose. Put simply and truthfully, Officer Robert Mann is the embodiment of the values the VFW looks for in the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year,” the nomination letter said.

Mann’s efforts as the Melrose school resource officer were also recognized, including the many programs he implemented — such as a coat drive to help less fortunate students stay warm in the winter months.

Mann is an executive board member of Melrose’s Operation Resolve project, which is helping raise money to send World War II veterans to see their monument in Washington, DC. (Read a story about the program in the Feb. 9 edition of the Free Press or online at wickedlocalmelrose.com/news.)

Mann and his father also raise money to provide calling cards to local servicemen and women serving overseas.

His knowledge of the law, professionalism and dedication also contributed to his selection as Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

“He is an independent thinker, pays attention to detail, and his energetic approach to his job is highly regarded by his supervisors, peers and the Melrose community. He is a team player with outstanding personal, academic and professional potential,” the nomination letter said.

Teacher of the Year

Lisa Lord has been a social studies teacher at Melrose High School for the past 14 years.

Many of her projects have encouraged partnership between veterans and students. She established an oral history project that brings local veterans — from World War II to today — into the classroom to speak with her students about their experiences and responsibilities in the military.

Begun in 2007, the project is ongoing. As part of the program, students’ biographies of veterans have been published in the Free Press and other local papers in recognition of Veterans Day.

As part of the oral history project, Lord lined up veterans from various conflicts, including a WWII veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and a live conversation via Skype with an MHS alumni student who is serving in Afghanistan with the Air Force.

“Lisa Lord is quite simply a great teacher with much admiration and respect for the men and women in uniform. She is most deserving of the VFW’s Teacher of the Year Award,” her nomination letter said.

One year, Lord and her students attempted to create “Victory Gardens” in the classroom as part of their World War II studies. This year she is also hoping to collaborate with a local elementary school that started a community garden, which connects to a classroom lesson.

Lord has undertaken a project to create an elaborate archive of information about Melrose veterans. By working with veterans and other community members, she has an extensive collection of war-era magazines, newspapers, photographs and other artifacts. She is collecting veterans’ stories and obituaries from local papers to accompany the archive. At some point, she hopes to involve students in the project.

Firefighter of the Year

Paul Collina is a fire lieutenant, and is trained as a paramedic for the department. He helped Melrose’s city and fire officials reach their goal of restoring emergency medical services to an in-house program, which it had been before it was contracted out in the early 1990s.

Collina helped establish the policies and procedures needed for the fire department to offer ambulance services, worked through the challenging state licensing process, researched the purchase of a new ambulance and advised on the final choice, and spearheaded all the training for department members.

“The department began successfully operating on June 1, 2011 and it has been a tremendous success due to the efforts of Lt. Collina. He is without question personally responsible for the success of this new venture,” his nomination letter said.

The letter quoted Collina’s motto during the two-year conversion process: “If we are going to do it, we have to do it right.”

According to the letter, Collina helped make ambulance services in-house by working with state inspectors, the director of the city’s billing company, the medical director and emergency room staff of the Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, and the staff at Cataldo Ambulance.

At one point in the process, he even traveled out of state to observe the ambulance manufacturer’s factory.

“His depth of experience and his ‘give me the ball’ attitude was instrumental in the accomplishment of this department’s historic milestone,” the nomination letter said.

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VFW presents awards to 3 community leaders