More than 50 students were accompanied by vets at the Nov. 13 assembly
At Cinnaminson Middle School’s Take a Veteran to School Day, students flooded the gymnasium with distinguished guests in tow to honor their service in front of the local community.
Melissa DeClementi, a health and physical education teacher at CMS and student council co-advisor, said more than 50 students brought veterans to the school for two days of celebration. On Nov. 13, sixth and seventh graders met with Veterans of Foreign Wars members, and students from all grades attended breakfast with active duty and retired military on Nov. 14 before the annual student-led assembly. The veterans were also given handmade crafts by the CMS art club.
“This event is one of my favorite events that we do for the community because it also includes our students’ families from outside of town,” DeClementi said. “It is family bonding time, as well as a time for all students and staff to recognize the sacrifice, the work and the heart that goes into being in the military. I think it’s a time for the host students to show how proud they are to know such awesome people.”
After a warm welcome from CMS Principal Frank Goulburn, student body president Croix Horsley commanded the Presentation of the Colors. The Cinnaminson Select Singers then led the audience in a rendition of the National Anthem.
“I was here last year, and I enjoyed it so much I came back,” said Navy veteran Bob Moss, who came with his granddaughter, seventh grader Brooke Sztenderowicz. Broke added she was glad to have an opportunity to thank Moss for his service.
A performance of “March America” by the Cinnaminson eighth-grade band set the tone for readings from three student essays. Seventh graders Alex Boyko and Ryan Coceano and eighth grader Veronica Campbell were selected to read their submissions to Patriot’s Pen 2017, the VFW’s annual national writing contest. In 300 to 400 words, students were asked to examine America’s history based on a patriotic theme. This year, the theme was “America’s Gift to My Generation.”
“Freedom is an entire empire of possibility,” Boyko read aloud from his essay, emphasizing the sacrifices of the veterans in attendance. Campbell and Coceano echoed his sentiments in their readings, thanking the veterans for their priceless “gift.”
Superintendent Stephen Cappello shared a memory of his grandfather, a WWII veteran who fought in D-Day. Cappello revisited the time he discovered a long-forgotten school project in which he was tasked with interviewing a hero. The young Cappello chose his grandfather.
Asking his grandfather what it was like to be a hero, Cappello was surprised to hear that he did not consider himself a hero at all, but a soldier whose duty it was to reclaim the spoils of war. Those spoils, according to Cappello’s grandfather, were the American way of life.
“Those words really stuck with me,” Cappello said. “Our way of life and the debt of gratitude that we owe to the folks not only in this room, but all those who served in our military, stays with us and makes everything in our communities possible.”
