ACS celebrated Veterans Day 2021 by treating some 40 area veterans to a special breakfast on Friday, November 15, followed by a chapel program that honored and thanked them for their service and sacrifice. Student Council officers welcomed and joined the veterans for breakfast, spending time in conversation learning about their experiences serving in the military. Special hand-made thank-you cards made by the Servant’s Heart Committee and 7th grade students were also presented to the veterans during the breakfast.
After breakfast, several hundred students from the 6th-12th grades filled the gym for the Veterans Appreciation Chapel, which was also livestreamed to the kindergarten to 5th grade classrooms. Upper School Principal Meg McHale opened the chapel with prayer. Members of the ACS Boy Scout Troop and Cub Pack 389 then presented the colors and led the salutes to the American flag and the Christian flag.
7th grader Josiah Christmon was invited to the podium to share his essay that thanked veterans for the important sacrifices that they make to defend our freedoms. His essay was chosen out of dozens that were written by Middle School students as a class assignment at the beginning of November. Following Christmon, the Middle School Band, directed by faculty member Tim Rosie, presented a medley of patriotic songs entitled “The Freedom Finale” and the 2nd grade students, dressed in red, white, and blue, sang “God Bless America,” directed by faculty member Julie Zimmer.
A favorite part of the program featured the playing of an “Armed Forces Medley” video. The students cheered and clapped as each service anthem was played and the veterans from each branch stood for their anthem.
U.S. Air Force Technical Sergeant Tim Richvalsky, who is also an ACS 2003 alumnus, was the keynote speaker. He has served for 18 years in the U.S. Air Force and is stationed with the 177th Air National Guard Base in Egg Harbor Township. Richvalsky enlisted in the Air Force just two years after the 9-11 attack. “From an early age I felt called to protect and defend those around me,” Richvalsky said. “That terrorist act on 9-11 galvanized my desire to join the military; I wanted to make a difference and help ensure that it would never happen again.”
The chapel program concluded with the 5th Grade Worship Team bringing everyone to their feet to join in singing the lively worship songs “Faithful” and “This Little Light.” After chapel, students from elementary to high school placed American flags outdoors along the sidewalk on Zion Road in honor of our veterans.
