File Photo In this 2020 file photo, Terry Puperi is sworn in as the president of the Union Local Board of Education. Puperi, an Air Force veteran, also serves as commander of American Legion Post 312 in Belmont.

A veteran who holds two leadership positions in Belmont County — American Legion Post 312 commander and Union Local Board of Education president–believes his service helped him transition into adulthood while also giving him valuable leadership examples.

Terry Puperi, a Martins Ferry native, joined the military at 18 years old after he picked a high number in the Vietnam War draft lottery and decided to join before he was drafted. After completing basic training at tech school, Pupperi headed to Travis Air Force Base in California.

At the time, President Richard Nixon was cutting down on the active forces, which resulted in Puperi having to serve an alternating two years in active duty and one year in reserves for every year he had left of active duty service requirements.

Puperi was discharged from active duty after four years of service. He then joined the Air Force Reserves and was stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio.

Puperi was an airman whose job was to unload and move cargo from planes. He equated the role to an airport baggage handler, adding that he could do the job “once a weekend and 15 days during the year” in the reserves but would not have enjoyed doing it daily.

While in the reserves, Puperi obtained a degree in computer programming from Belmont Technical College. After working a couple of programming jobs, he eventually secured a teaching position at Belmont Technical College, where he stayed for 32 years. Puperi retired from the reserves after 24 years.

Though his airman duties had no transferable skills to his teaching position, Puperi said the life experience he obtained in the military helped him transition into adulthood.

“I got to see a lot of the world and the United States through the military,” Puperi noted. “It was a good experience for me and helped me grow to become a good person that I otherwise may not have become without service.”

During his time in the reserves, Puperi joked that a veteran kept “bugging and bugging” him to join Belmont American Legion Post 312. Puperi declined the invitation every time because he was “too busy.”

“I don’t like to join any type of organization unless I can be there and do things with them,” Puperi said. “When the veteran started asking me to join the Legion, I couldn’t do it because I had too many other things going on in my life.”

Puperi was last asked to join the Legion seven years ago. At that point, he was retired and had more free time, so he finally accepted the invitation.

“I am glad I joined and wish I would have joined earlier,” Puperi said. “I enjoy the camaraderie of the other legionnaires and the work we do.”

Puperi noted his American Legion post is “small” compared to others, with a roster of 24 members and nine “very active members.” Puperi contributes their small numbers to why he was chosen to serve as commander, with the former commander asking Puperi to take the position so he could become the adjutant.

“It wasn’t an election, it was more like me being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Puperi joked.

Though their numbers are small, Puperi said this has kept the legion tight-knit and goal-oriented.

“We’re so small that we don’t have a canteen or a liquor license,” Puperi added. “When you think of a legion, you think of men sitting around drinking beer, talking and whatnot, but that’s not us. We do service work for our community more than anything else.”

Puperi said the organization focuses on outreach work within the local school system. Last year, during the holiday season, it donated $1,000 to Union Local Elementary School.

“We wanted to make their Christmas a little bit better because we have a lot of poverty-stricken people and families here that can’t always afford clothes or Christmas gifts,” Puperi said. “We give donations to the school district or the elementary school and then allow the teachers and principals to get together and decide how the money should be dispersed.

Another legion community outreach event Puperi is particularly proud of is the group’s sole fundraising event, a spaghetti dinner held in October each year. Proceeds from the event go towards the Legion’s operating costs, including paying members’ dues.

Puperi credited Legion members’ efforts to dwindle the cost of hosting the fundraiser down to zero this year.

“Three of our members went out and started beating the bushes about getting donations from individuals who have decent jobs and businesses in the area who could help support it,” Puperi said. “I’m really proud to say these guys did such a good job fundraising that our expense for the spaghetti dinner this year was zero.”

The initiative of his Legion members is what Puperi loves about leading the organization. With such a hands-on group of legionnaires, he noted that the only aspect of the group he needs to “worry about” is its finances.

“I really feel like being commander is just a title right now because I don’t really have to lead these guys or tell them to do anything, they just do it themselves,” Puperi said. “We have three to four members right now who are very involved that transferred from other legions because of the camaraderie we have between us. These guys don’t care about how much money or how many members we have, they just want to be in a legion that does things for the people of our community.”

Puperi added that the members’ desires align with what he believes should be the central goal of a legion leader: serving the community.

“The most important part of all Legions is that we are a service organization, and we need to service not only veterans and the members of the legion but also the communities that support the legions,” Puperi said. “I think every Legion should be involved within their community.”

In addition to his commander title at the Legion, Puperi holds another leadership position in the community – Union Local Schools Board of Education President. In the same way Puperi believes his legion commander post was given to him by happenstance, he also believes the board of education position was not awarded to him by popularity.

“I was just one of the guys on there, it wasn’t a popularity contest,” Puperi said. “I never live my life to say I want to be this, or I want to be that. I just do what I do to get the job done.”

“Getting the job done” on the BOE for Puperi includes looking at what other successful school districts in Ohio are doing and emulating their strategies at Union Local. Puperi also believes that the way standardized tests in Ohio measure students’ ability does not accurately reflect a school system’s success.

“The standardized testing the state puts out is probably one of the worst measures of a school district ever,” Puperi noted. “How kids in grades K through 12th [grade] are taught has changed so much because of those tests that you can’t teach kids what they need to know.”

Puperi believes standard tests do not accommodate the abilities of all students, noting he observed this from students he taught with test anxiety at Belmont Community College.

“My evolution of a student, whether good or bad, is what they do after graduation,” Puperi said. “Did they go to a trade school and excel? If they did, they’re a smart kid, and the educational process did its job. On the other hand, if they go to college and do well in college and get a good job, the education process did its job, too.

If they fail after graduation, something failed in the K through 12 education, and I think that’s what you need to look out for.”

One goal that Puperi has set out to tackle on BOE is properly and comprehensively evaluating the success of Union Local students after college. He noted the difficulty of getting feedback from past students due to their lack of response to questionnaires the BOE has distributed.

Whether Puperi is preparing for a fundraiser with the Legion or attempting to fill gaps in the Union Local education system, he follows the same principle: “You get the work done by doing it yourself, and if you need someone to do something, ask them, do not order.”

Puperi noted this principle differs from what he was taught in the military, as superiors and supervisors could “boss their inferiors around.”

“I have one son who went up to the rank of patrol leader in Boy Scouts, and he told me he had to make sure the troop members were doing ‘what they had to do,'” Puperi recalled. “I told him, ‘Never, ever tell them to do something and never, ever tell them to do something that you will not do yourself.’ I hope, as a father, that was a strong lesson to him, and I think, based on where he’s at now, that must have stuck with him.”

Puperi said that in both of his leadership positions, he does not push an agenda he wants to implement but instead focuses on how he can best serve the needs of his community.

“I’ve always tried to say that I’m a legionnaire because I wanted to be one, not because I had to be one,” Puperi said. “I was a veteran, but I wanted to be a legionnaire to help people and the community I live in. I wanted to be on the board of education to help the students and district as a whole.”