Top Stories for Tuesday May 29, 2012

Celebrating Citizenship and Thank You Henry Broughton
By Cookie Steponaitis
For the thousands of people who stream into Vergennes on Memorial Day, it will be business as usual. They come to see Vermont’s largest parade and to spend time celebrating with friends and witnessing an annual tradition in Vermont that honors the nations’ fallen soldiers and showcases local citizenship and community. There will be marching bands, balloons, fire departments, floats, smiles, flags, rescue squads and weather permitting or not, Vermonters will mark the passing of another year and usher in the summer season.  [ more ]

Service Learning Brings Together Passion and Power of the Class of 2012
By Cookie Steponaitis
Back in 2007, the faculty at VUHS saw a golden opportunity and they jumped on it. During specified testing days in October and May when ½ of the school population was engaged in the important task of taking standardized tests, ½ of the school was available to participate in community based learning projects. So, a tradition was born.

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The Importance of Forever Words: A Personal Reflection on Memorial Day
By Cookie Steponaitis
    Students stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day in classrooms across America but just how many of those voices resonate with an understanding or even more importantly a conscious commitment to what they are saying? As Americans we take many of our rights and freedoms as a given and think of them as permanent parts of our heritage and future. Yet, the truth is that America is an experiment in democracy, kept strong by the commitment of each generation to know and understand what democracy is and what the commitment to the ideals in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution involve. Our rituals like the Pledge of Allegiance are more than historic links to a time long past. They are statements of purpose and intent, linking one generation to the Revolution of 1776 and the growth of a nation since then. 
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