
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- The music that fills this small crowded room is one man's devotion to children.
Stanley Lofton even beats the sun out of bed to get here every morning.
"These children are eager and I ask them to do certain things, get up early in the morning, my goodness," Lofton says.
The early start time takes getting used to, just ask Alex.
"I don't like it, but I do it for the commitment," says Alex Buechler.
The fifth grader needs all the energy he can get.
"It's so alive you really feel it. It's really fun."
He plays the giant tuba.
"I didn't start out on this instrument. I started out on the trumpet."
The students say Lofton is a conductor of music.
Addison Dennard says "he makes it easy to understand."
"He's very nice and teaches you a lot. Helps you right away," says 5th grader Kelly Hill.
Lofton is also a conductor of life.
"He tells you to hug your parents and tell them that you love them," says Teddi Lesoine.
His colleagues say Lofton just loves kids.
Music teacher Diane Demeranville says "everything he says is an encouragement to a child."
There are no sour notes in this classroom.
Lofton says "I've led students go to all state. But I had some youngsters down there who could open the case and find out one end to another. But when we had that concert ... you're right. So anything they bring to the table is completely accepted and embraced."
And that's why Stanley Lofton is one of 12 Who Care.
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Created: 9/21/2009 1:04:53 PM 



