After four years of tough academics and military training, McKeesport native Chris Englert already was looking forward to his graduation from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. on May 28.

But the ceremony turned out to be better than the 2nd lieutenant could have ever imagined.

The guest speaker was President Bush, who decided to stick around and shake the hands of each of the academy's 1,102 graduates. As Mr. Englert, 23, waited for his turn to be called to the stage, he noticed that some of the graduates were presenting the president with coins from their squadrons as mementoes and others were giving him hugs and fist bumps.

So Mr. Englert, a graduate of Serra Catholic High School, decided to do something that no one else had done: present the President with a cigar like the one he had stuffed into his sock for celebration after graduation. A friend sitting nearby gave him another cigar.

So after saluting the President and shaking his hand, Mr. Englert pulled out the two cigars and handed one to Mr. Bush. He said the president laughed, put the cigar to his mouth and then asked him where his parents were sitting so that he could wave to them.

"He did his little laugh -- 'heh, heh, heh' -- and then put the cigar in his mouth," Mr. Englert said.

Mr. Englert said his parents, Tom and Denise, got a big kick out of the president's reaction. "They were just laughing. It's something that we'll never forget," Mr. Englert said. A photographer for the Colorado Gazette caught the moment.

Mr. Englert said his moment with Mr. Bush was topped by another of his classmates. That graduate's mother could not make it to the graduation ceremony, so he called her on his cell phone and handed the phone to the president when he got on stage.

"The President said 'Hello this is the president of the United States.' All he could hear was his mother screaming into the phone," Mr. Englert said.

Mr. Englert has been on a 60-day paid leave since graduation. He reports for duty next Thursday to Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas, where he will start pilot training.

Leader of the band

Nicholas Colarosa is only 16 but already has spent years volunteering at the Bethel Park Public Library. He recalls helping Ingrid Kalchthaler and other library workers with various programs when he was younger.

"They would take me to nursing homes to play my violin," he said.

Now Nicholas is a part-time employee, who collaborates on youth programs and has formed a traveling band of young musicians who have spent this summer entertaining at senior centers.

The library program called, "Playin' in a Traveling Band" and open to children in grades 5 and up, has nearly a dozen children and teens signed up. They play violin, saxophone, recorder, guitar or sing and dance. On Aug. 7, the band will entertain residents at Meadowcrest Nursing Center.

Nicholas coordinates practices and leads each performances with a violin solo.

"The kids are real enthused and all of the people in the audience ask when we are coming back," he said.

Nicholas has been playing violin for eight years and said he is inspired by his grandfather.