Windsor Public Schools Celebrate Veterans Day

All Windsor Public Schools are open on Veterans Day, November 11, 2015 and will be celebrating with events to teach students about the importance of honoring veterans. Please see below a list of events and activities taking place at each school:

Windsor High School, 50 Sage Park Rd., 860-687-2020:

8:25 a.m. - 9:25 a.m. Students and teachers from Windsor High School will honor veterans by placing stars, honoring deceased veterans, and flags, which honor current and retired service men and women on the Windsor Town Green. The students, accompanied by Dr. Craig Cooke, Superintendent of Schools, Terrell Hill, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, WHS Principal Russell Sills, the WHS marching band, ROTC color guard, and choral groups, as well as local police, will walk from the high school to the town green to place the stars and flags. A brief ceremony with music, remarks, and a student reading, will follow. Each star has the name of a local veteran who is buried in a Windsor cemetery; there are more than 3000 of them created by Windsor students and faculty. The event was organized and planned by Nancy Crilly-Kirk, Dept. Chair, Social Studies, and Jen Anderson, Abbey Lowe, and Amy Tria, department faculty. The event is free, the public is invited, and will be later televised on WIN-TV.

Sage Park, 25 Sage Park Rd., 860-687-2030:

All day: 8:05 a.m. - 2:50 p.m. Activities scheduled throughout the day include visits by local veterans, reading stories of valor and courage, an activity on Purple Heart and local recipient Daniel Bissel, as well as opportunities for students to write or email troops currently deployed. Sage Park’s “White Table” is on display in the main lobby. This tradition originated during the Vietnam War as a symbol for service members held prisoner of war or missing in action. Solidarity and solemn, it is a table where no one ever sits. Located around the building are the various “Walls of Honor” created by each team using flags to honor Windsor veterans, particularly Sage Park family and friends.

John F. Kennedy School, 530 Park Ave., 860-687-2060:

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Assembly at 9:30 a.m. The John F. Kennedy School invited families to participate in their Veteran’s Day activities. Included with the invite was a picture frame that the students can color and attach a picture of a Veteran that they know or is in their family. The pictures will then be posted on the wall of honor. A breakfast will take place in the JFK media center at 9:00 a.m. and veterans and their families are invited to attend. A school-wide assembly will take place from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. The assembly will include a poetry reading, music selections by their choir, band, and strings as well as a presentation from the students. Students are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue. Students that are in scouts or brownies are encouraged to wear their uniforms and will be leading the veterans into the assembly. Books about Veteran’s day will also be read in the classrooms throughout the day.

Clover Street School, 57 Clover St., 860-687-2050:

​​1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Assembly at 2:00 p.m. Clover Street School Family Resource Center will host a reception at 1:30 p.m. for veterans and their families. Light refreshments will be served. Following the reception, veterans will be escorted to the cafeteria by students for a school wide assembly that will begin at 2:00 p.m. Boys and Girls Scouts will serve as the honor guard for the veterans as they enter the assembly. During the program, veterans will be honored through songs, a read aloud of “America’s White Table” and special presentations by students. The Clover Street orchestra will perform. A flag has been made using red, white and blue tracings of student’s hands throughout the school and will be displayed at the assembly. A Wall of Honor that showcases relatives and friends of the Clover community who have served or continue to serve our country. Each classroom will also have read and discussed, “H is For Honor: A Military Family Alphabet,” by Devin Scillian.

Poquonock, 1760 Poquonock Ave., 860-687-2080:

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Assembly at 9:30 a.m. “Thank You for Your Service” will be the theme of Poquonock School’s Veterans Day Celebration. Veterans have been invited to attend a reception that will be hosted in the Family Resource Center at 9:00 am. A school-wide assembly will follow at 9:30 a.m. in the gymnasium. The program will include a moment of silence, poetry, and musical selections. Ann Walsh, representing Send Hometown Windsor to the Troops, will be on hand to accept food and toiletry items that were collected throughout the month of October. “Thank you for your service” letters, cards and pictures will be created by students and sent to the Windsor troops as well. Veterans will also be invited to spend time in classrooms to read, “Veterans: Heroes in our Neighborhood” by Valerie Pfundstein, discuss the significance of Veterans Day, and answer questions.

Oliver Ellsworth, 730 Kennedy Rd., 860-687-2070:

2:35 p.m. - 3:10 p.m. Oliver Ellsworth students are asked to invite family and friends who are veterans to a school assembly beginning at 2:35 p.m. The celebration will include patriotic songs, a brief explanation of each branch of the armed forces, and recognition of our guest veterans. The Daisies and Cub Scouts will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. All students, staff and guests are encouraged to wear red, white and/or blue. Veterans are invited for light refreshments at 2:00 p.m. in the Family Resource Center.

For information about the Windsor Board of Education and any of its schools, please visit www.windsorct.org.