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06/03/2022 12:00 AMEach year, Walsh Intermediate School (WIS) students are asked to describe, in their own words, "What Memorial Day Means to Me." This year, 10 students were recognized for their exceptional answers by the committee of the Captain Thomas Yester 2022 Memorial Day essay contest.
On Monday, May 30, contest winner Audrey Kim and runner-up Nate Durante read their essays to the crowd gathered on the Branford green for the town's Memorial Day ceremonies, which were held at 10 a.m., in advance of the day's Memorial Day parade.
The annual essay contest is organized by the Branford Veterans Parade Committee with assistance from Branford Public Schools (BPS), and supported with gift cards generously sponsored by the Branford Community Foundation (BCF).
Ten years ago, the parade committee re-named the essay contest in honor of Branford's late Captain Thomas Yester, a World War II veteran and active committee member who passed away in 2012. Yester flew more than 60 missions as a B-26 tail gunner. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 9 Oak Leaf Clusters, and European Theater Ribbon with 3 Battle Stars, among other awards.
This year, the committee selected the ten top student writers from all essays submitted by students in grades 5 – 8 at WIS. Gift cards and certificates of merit were presented to the students during a visit to WIS made by essay contest chairman/Veterans Parade Committee chairman Bill O'Brien, together with parade committee member John Fitzgerald, BCF Executive Director Liza Petra and Branford Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez. Joining them to congratulate the student essayists at WIS were WIS assistant principal Peter Anaclerio (who also serves as WIS essay contest coordinator) and WIS social studies teachers Kelly Hart and Carl Seeley.
As this year's top essayist, Kim, a fifth-grade student in Hart's class, was awarded a $100 gift card. Kim wrote a powerful and personal essay, which reads, "To me, Memorial Day is a time to commemorate the soldiers who fought for us and made the ultimate sacrifice, to make sure those pieces of history don't end up forgotten. I am Korean, my family is from Korea, and one of the reasons why my family could have a free country is because American soldiers helped and even lost their lives in the Korean War. It is more than just a day to honor the fallen soldiers, but a time to forever remember, whenever we go about our daily lives, to know that their sacrifice was not in vain."
Second-prize winner Durante, an eighth-grade student in Seeley's class, earned a $75 gift card for his thought-provoking essay, which reads, "When I look around me, I see friends and family in a safe community. But what we don't see is the reason for this, the thousands of men and women who have died fighting for the land we call our home. On Memorial Day we honor all the courageous souls that have died doing their duty to protect our country. Without them, our lives wouldn't be the same."
The 2022 contest's eight honorable mention essay winners each received a $25 gift card. They are: Paige Baker, Alexis Kallapodhi, Meghan Keeney, Silas McCullouch, Aubree McNally, Cormick Martin, Caleigh Moran and Sophia Tamsin.
O'Brien said the contest receives tremendous support each year from BCF, BPS, WIS and students. He thanked all involved in the 2022 program.