Students at Incarnate Word Academy in Parma Heights are celebrating the last few weeks of the academic year and making final preparations for their 10th annual Military Appreciation Day on May 24. The daylong event is dedicated to military awareness and remembering those who died in service to their country.
May is Military Appreciation Month and each year as Memorial Day approaches, IWA students and staff organize a Mass, lunch for veterans and a patriotic walk through Parma Heights. What began in 2009 as a capstone project for seventh graders studying patriotism is now a signature community event.
And the undertaking has not gone unnoticed. This year, IWA received the Purple Star School award from the Ohio Department of Education. The award recognizes military-friendly schools that make a commitment to connecting students and their families to branches of the military.
In addition to the staff’s innovative approach of incorporating patriotism across multiple curricula, professional development helped implement procedures to ensure a smooth transition for military families. One example is adopting a flexible workload policy. Military children may inherit household responsibilities in the absence of an active-duty parent. At IWA, teachers provide a quiet place to complete work before the school day ends.
Leading the charge is Stacy Shalala, a seventh-grade language arts teacher and chaplain for Strongsville VFW Post 3345. “Throughout the year the coursework builds in history, religion, language arts and public speaking. I ask the students to put themselves in the shoes of not only those who may be serving, but the mothers of soldiers, siblings and friends,” said Shalala, whose father and four uncles were veterans.
“By the Easter season students are connecting John 15:13: ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,’ with the true meaning of sacrifice,” she added.
As middle school students practice setting the POW/MIA table -- a small, round table set but never occupied to honor the prisoners of war and those missing in action – one girl shares how participating in the solemn ceremony gives a feeling of responsibility. “All year our classwork has encouraged me to examine faith, just like a disciple -- Jesus’ soldier -- to make an impact through service. My grandpa was in the Army and I’d like to consider this path.”
New to this year’s Military Appreciation Day is participation by students from St. Mary Byzantine School in Cleveland, who will attend the Mass celebrated by Bishop Nelson Perez. They will also join the four-mile Exercise Our Freedom Walk down Pearl Road and through the streets of Parma Heights. Yorktown Lanes donated bus transportation for St. Mary Byzantine.
In addition to Bishop Perez, special guests include Parma Heights Mayor Mike Byrne, (an IWA alumnus and St. John Bosco parishioner), Strongsville Mayor Thomas Perciak (St. Joseph, Strongsville parishioner) and Pamela Ciccarello, second vice president, Blue Star Mothers, Chapter 26.
“The community really comes together to develop our Catholic school students’ civic leadership and assist the younger generations’ efforts to thank our older generation,” Shalala said.