Burlington Township High School junior Flavia Scotto d’Antuno has collected more than 100 names to create a mural honoring BTHS graduates who have gone on to serve in the military.
As a part of Burlington Township High School’s peer outreach class, students are tasked with completing a personal project. While some students ran fundraisers or read to younger students, junior Flavia Scotto d’Antuno was thinking about a way to honor the school’s military alumni.
After looking at other schools for inspiration, Scotto d’Antuno decided to create a military wall to honor students who joined the military after graduating from Burlington Township. The Military Wall of Honor for Burlington Township High School Alumni will honor both living and deceased alumni who are serving or have served in any of the five branches: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy.
“It just brings a sense of pride,” Scotto d’Antuno said.
Along with the help of her art teacher Shamus Matthews, Scotto d’Antuno will paint the mural in the coming weeks on the high school’s A Hallway wall. The plan is to create an American flag, and within the white stripes will be the names, graduation year, military branch and military photo of alumni. To date, Scotto d’Antuno has collected the names of more than 100 alumni to include on the wall.
Scotto d’Antuno began collecting names in early March. In speaking with the school’s guidance office, Scotto d’Antuno learned around 5 percent of BTHS graduates go on to serve in the military. Through the use of Facebook, she has been able to reach out to alumni groups and appeal to them to submit the names individuals who have served.
From there, Scotto d’Antuno, along with the help of Liz Scott, director of human resources and community relations, got to work verifying the accuracy of all the names she had collected. Ultimately, Scotto d’Antuno and Scott collected and verified names running the gamut from the 1960s through the 2000s.
Scotto d’Antuno and Scott are also working on compiling the information they collected to create a corresponding website, which will feature alumni’s military photos along with their answers to the question: “What is your most memorable moment as a BTHS graduate?” Scotto d’Antuno said collecting names will be an ongoing process through the website.
The school is working on an event to unveil the mural around Memorial Day. Scott said they hope to have many of the military alumni in attendance.
“It’s been amazing the response, and the alumni — everyone is just buzzing about it,” Scott said.
While Scotto d’Antuno was working on collecting names, a time capsule was found buried in the school’s 1964 cornerstore. Scott said she knew alumni were going to be in attendance for the wall’s unveiling, so she has resisted the temptation to open the capsule and is saving the reveal for the wall celebration. She said she thought it would be that much more special to open the capsule to do in conjunction with an event for and about alumni.
“This is a perfect tie in to do it together and celebrate the accomplishments of our alumni and take a look back on the past,” Scott said.
