By Will Tuell

Peals of laughter ripped through the Elm Street School gymnasium Friday morning as Missouri-based ventriloquist Doug Mickan regaled the nearly 200 students and staff with a puppet show featuring a fourth grader dressed as a pirate, a talking rooster named Roscoe, and an animated drawing aptly named Drew. While Mickan and his puppets deftly told fairy tales, sang songs, and bantered back and forth, the message was clear — we all have unique talents and abilities that distinguish us, and it is how we use them that makes each of us special.