Walt Whitman Graduates Heading To Military Saluted By District

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Three Walt Whitman High School seniors headed for military service were recognized at the annual Military Breakfast held by the South Huntington School District.

Local dignitaries and veterans joined family, administrators and school board members at the James Kaden Administrative offices to applaud the three who will be joining the United States Armed Forces after graduation, the school district announced. Principal Ken Costa offered the new recruits his own special encouragement with a story from his time as a United States Marine.

Each one of these students is joining institutions steeped in history and tradition.

Emma Kowalczyk will be attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The Academy was established in 1802, but West Point was originally a fort during the American Revolution because of its strategic location on the west bank of the Hudson River. Kowalczyk will study systems engineering when she becomes one of 4,000 cadets attending West Point in the fall.

Kaiet Coraizaca is set to attend the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado. The first Air Force Academy class graduated in 1959. Coraizaca will become one of more than 4,000 cadets enrolled in programs from aeronautical engineering to geospatial science to military and strategic studies.

Brayan Jimenez Avila is joining the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps was born in 1775 when the first recruiting center was set up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After recruit training, Avila will join the ranks of the more than 177,000 active duty members of the USMC. Marines can remain in the enlisted ranks or move on to officer training.

"We identify students going on to Ivy League and higher forms of education, but we need to identify the people that are devoting themselves to protecting the ideals of America and the foundations of what our country is built upon," said Dr. John Murphy, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. "Being someone that grew up in a military family and traveled around the world as a child, I understood the sacrifices that people make when going into the armed services, all for the good of others, because they're really there to protect everyone else."

The military recognition breakfast has become an annual graduation tradition in the district purposely held on June 6 every year — the anniversary of "D-Day," the largest seaborne invasion in history when 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France during World War II, pushing back against the Axis forces of Germany, Italy and Japan.