With much pride and lots of sunshine, students honored our veterans on Friday at a special ceremony that took place outside on the CET front lawn. The annual event is a CET Kindness Club tradition, organized by club supervisors Ms. Marlena Horton and Ms. Ana Maria Strattner, where each grade assembles in a circle surrounding local veterans and special guests from West Point, performing songs and showing gratitude to those who have served, and are serving, the protections of our country. “Freedom is something we all appreciate, and we thank our veterans for giving us that right,” said Donald, a fourth grader in Ms. Strattner’s class. “Veterans are always ready to help and protect us. We thank them for being here today.”

Following the ceremony of song, speakers, and the West Point Color Guard, Kindness Club students had the pleasure of serving breakfast to the guests of honor before returning to the classrooms with the veterans for Q&A sessions. Janet Meyer is a member of the American Legion Fox Eklof Post 505 in Croton-on-Hudson and a Women's Army Corps Veteran. “I served from 1961 to 1964,” she said. “The Women’s Army Corp doesn’t exist anymore because now women can join the Army." This is Ms. Meyer’s fourth year attending the CET celebration, and she values the time spent with students. “Being a veteran is wonderful. It means something. I love being able to share that message,” she said. “We served for their freedoms, which is important for them to know. I want to foster patriotism at their age because they might want to also serve their country. In fact, one student told me today that she wants to be a veteran when she grows up.”