The Hamden Hall Community Salutes Our Veterans

With gratitude, we recognize the service of all including those in our school community such as Class of 2018 alumnus and 2^nd Lieutenant Jack Schoonmaker. As a member of the Marine Corps, Jack completed 10 weeks of Officer Candidate School in Quantico, graduating in August 2021, with the goal of becoming an “Officer of Marines.”

 

Following his graduation from Hamden Hall, Jack entered boot camp and completed his training in September 2018. He then went to marine combat training and military occupational school while also acquiring a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He is now attending The Basic School, warfare training for Marine officers, in Virginia. After receiving his occupational job assignment and completing the necessary schooling, he will be stationed for full-time active duty. Click here to read a complete news story on Jack.

While school will not be session for Veterans Day, the week has been filled with an array of different projects and activities around campus. In Lower School, first-grade students were visited by current parent Jonathan Godfrey, who spoke on his time as a helicopter crew-chief in the Army. Third- and fourth-grade students learned about the significance of the poppy flower. Students in class with Alexis Harris 2001 and art teacher Sue Bennett 1973 dove into an art project called "The Poppy Project." They made red watercolor cut-out poppy flowers for a collage and wrote personal thank-you notes to veterans expressing their appreciation. Attached to the notes were bags of toy soldiers. All notes will be delivered to the Whitney Center in Hamden. Fourth-graders spent morning class time coloring in poppy flower drawings that are now on display in the classroom and on lockers at the end of the Whitson Building hallway.

 

Middle and Upper School students and faculty also observed the holiday in advance with students in various history classes learning and discussing the origins and meanings of Veterans Day.