The stories in this issue of Middletown Life were almost fully completed and ready to go to print in mid-March when the coronavirus pandemic hit and changed our plans—and probably yours, too.

So we’re very pleased to be able to present these stories to you now, about four months later than originally planned, but still early enough in the year that we can also bring you a second issue of Middletown Life in 2020.

We hope you find the stories in this issue on the upbeat side. There are a lot of positive things happening in the community.

This issue features a story about how plans are taking shape for a new park.

We also look at how the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce has grown significantly in the last few years by offering a diverse set of services to member businesses.

This issue also includes the story of how Krista Scudlark built her business, Backyard Jams and Jellies, into a favorite of customers throughout Delaware.

None of the students in Katie Wright's seventh-grade social studies class at the Louis Redding Middle School were alive on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001—a day that changed the world. With the help of a national foundation, a piece of that fateful morning made its way to Middletown, and became an artifact meant to educate and reflect upon.

We also take a look at some of the most interesting projects that high school seniors worked on this year. The quality of the projects is truly impressive. Appoquinimink High School senior Emily Dina organized and ran a district theater camp for young children in July of 2019. Appoquinimink High School senior Grace Valleley got a head start on her college plans to study agriculture by working with sheep, while her classmate Aubrey Shearer created a 24-hour running event to raise awareness about suicide by teens and veterans. A few students from Kelly Palaisa’s forensics class at Appoquinimink High School mixed forensics and fairy tales for their senior projects that were on display at Cedar Lane Elementary’s STEM Night.

This issue also features a look at two of the newer restaurants in the Middletown area.

Summit Aviation is the subject of the photo essay.

We hope you enjoy these stories and, as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for future stories. We’re already hard at work planning the next issue of Middletown Life, which will arrive in the fall of 2020.