In order to celebrate Veterans Day, students at DePaolo Middle School heard from one of the teachers who served in Iraq with the army. Joel-Patrick Leger, an eighth-grade U.S. history teacher at DePaolo who flew transport missions as a Black Hawk crew chief, wore his uniform and displayed items used during his time in Iraq.

Flanders Elementary School hosted the annual Veterans Day assembly on Nov. 12. The event is organized by fifth-grade teacher Dan Murzdek. Students brought veterans to a breakfast provided by the staff and appeared in a video presentation thanking veterans for their service. The orchestra and advanced band performed patriotic music. Capt. Alyssa Kelleher, commander of Fox Co. 186BSB which deploys to Afghanistan next week, questions the students during her keynote address.

John Bracken of Southington, left, James Matons of Woodbury and Tyler Lorenzen of Cheshire examine an exhibit in the Egyptian museum they created as part of their sixth grade class at Chase Collegiate School. The museum included artifacts and displays based on student research of topics interesting to them.

Over 40 students from Miss Cindy’s Dance Center of Southington were busy this holiday season learning and performing several routines at local assisted living facilities, including Mulberry Gardens and The Orchards. The students, ranging in age from four to 15, donated their time for several weekends to rehearse the different dances and were happy and excited to make the holidays a little brighter for others in their community.

DePaolo Middle School students collected close to 2,000 items during this year’s National Junior Honor Society Toiletry Drive. Students in the NJHS at DePaolo worked with the Honor Society students from Kennedy Middle School and Southington High School to make over 200 toiletry bags. The bags will be distributed to people in the Southington community.

DePaolo Middle School Student Council and Leadership students are collecting winter clothes for Southington residents. On Nov. 24, the first collection of over a hundred coats plus other winter clothes was picked up by Southington Community Services. The DePaolo Middle School Clothing Drive will continue until Thursday, Dec. 18. Pictured with some of the items are, from left to right, Austin Coley, Kayla Viviano, and Hannah Chamis.