Veterans Day 2016

Since this is our first fall as Wounded Vets Strong (WVS), we aimed to make this Veterans Day as successful as it could possibly be. Through the instrumental work of Mr. Pinney, Simsbury High School's Athletic Director and veteran, Mr. O'Brien, Simsbury High School's Principal, and Haley Latorre, WVS President, WVS was able to help put together the school's very first ceremony and dinner to honor the veterans of our school and town. Before school on Friday, our club and school administrators gathered in our library to hear the singing of the national anthem by the student run a Capella group, No Fella A Capella and give cards, pins, pens, and flowers to our school's veterans while students and faculty were in attendance. The cards, made by members of WVS at our last meeting, thanked the veterans for their service and wished them a Happy Veterans Day; WVS also provided flag pins for the veterans to wear during the school day. Simsbury High School's technology and engineering department hosted an all-night event on Thursday night to make "freedom pens", student-made wooden pens, for the veterans. The 22-hour event raised awareness of the 22 veterans that commit suicide every day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs (Shane). 

WVS members preparing for the dinner honoring local veterans.

WVS President Haley Latorre thanks Mr. Bakulski, a Technology and Engineering teacher, at the morning ceremony.

On Friday evening, WVS worked with Mr. Pinney, our school's administrative team, and Simsbury's Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1926 to put on a dinner honoring the veterans from our town. The dinner, catered by Kane's Market of Simsbury, gave us a chance to reach out to our local veterans and show them just how thankful we are for their service. At this dinner, WVS also gave out small gift bags including WVS pens, freedom pens, flag pins, and cards to the veterans in attendance. 

Our club was proud to kickstart our school calendar by appreciating and thanking the veterans of Simsbury and Simsbury High School, and, through these two events, we felt that we were able to do that. WVS is grateful that we were able to take the time to celebrate the true purpose behind this holiday: our heros, the veterans.

By Keara Dennehy, Vice President of Communications

Works Cited:
Shane, Leo, III, and Patricia Kime. "New VA Study Finds 20 Veterans Commit Suicide Each Day." Military Times. N.p., 7 July 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.