Kindergarten and first and second grade children of Spaulding School invited about 70 veterans, including a few active reservists – parents, grandparents, etc. – to be honored in an assembly program early on Friday before Veterans Day. With their guests seated along the sides of the auditorium, the entire student body filed in, one classroom at a time, and sat on the floor in the middle. Several groups of kids sat up front by the stage, ready to open the event with the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, perform songs and recitations, and close with “America.”
Principal Roxanne Pangallo introduced the program, which was then directed by Assistant Principal Kris Pryce. In one element, each veterans’ group was honored: Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, Marines; each had representatives stand as their service was featured. In one particularly charming piece, about a dozen kids with drums, castanets, and rhythm sticks performed “Freedom March,” led by music teacher Wyn Jesperson. It was all a brisk, effective, event, not overlong, and well planned to avoid dead spots when groups of young children have to move on and off the performance space.
Following the assembly program, host children got a chance to enjoy brunch with their guests, held in both cafeterias. This reporter had a chance to interview one such pair: Teagan Arnold and her father, Dean Arnold, Capt. USAF, Ret. Mr. Arnold graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1993 and flew in various assignments. After a 20-year military career, he now works at Mass Mutual. He declined to discuss his military experiences, but he was clearly proud of his daughter’s recitation in the Spaulding program.