Middle Schoolers March in 2011 German-American Steuben Day Parade

Back in September, German language students from Garden City Middle School marched in the 54th annual German-American Steuben Parade in New York City.

The parade was broadcast live on public television and was shown on channels 13 and 21. Celebrated TV personalities Laura Savini and Theresa Statz-Smith hosted the broadcast from a stage on Fifth Avenue.

The parade celebrated the contributions to the U.S. by Americans of German descent, and is named for General Friedrich Baron von Steuben, whose birthday is in September.

Von Steuben was a Prussian drill master who traveled to Valley Forge, PA in 1778 to help General George Washington train his troops. His drill manual, commonly known as the “Blue Book,” is, to date, the basis for military training in the U.S. Army, and at the Academy at West Point, which he helped to establish.

Several grand marshals led the parade, including Samantha Brown, host of the Travel Channel’s Passport to Europe, Ilse Aigner, German secretary of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Erik Bettermann, director of Deutsche Welle, and Peter Ammon, the new ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States.

(Editor's Note: Dr. Judith Hecker submitted this article.)