Celebrating Our Military Families!

April is designated as the Month of the Military Child by the Department of Defense, so Saint Patrick Catholic School - a proud Virginia Purple Star School - dedicated the entire week of April 7 to celebrate the perseverance and recognize the sacrifices of all of our military-connected Wolfhound students. Close to 40% of our student body has a connection to the military and each of these children bring a unique perspective that helps shape and enrich our school culture.

Military service is a perfect example of servant leadership and what it means to live a Life of Vocation. Soldiers and sailors often feel called to serve their country and feel a duty and obligation to protect the freedoms that we enjoy. They selflessly give up many of their own wants, needs, and “freedoms” in order to serve. While the service member makes that choice for themself, we often forget the sacrifice military spouses and children make in support of their service member(s). We should not forget that military children move an average of every 2.5 years during their parent’s commitment to service. This means a new home, a new school, new friends, and new activities in each new place and long days, weeks or months away from their parent(s).

Purple is the color designated to represent the Month of the Military Child, so the planning committee began by placing small flags around our campus and librarian Betsy Cox put together a patriotic display of military-related books and throughout the month of April, so all students can learn more about military service and the sacrifice made by servicemen and women and their families. 

Here is how we celebrated this week:

Monday, April 7 - Military Monday     

Military Monday began with our military parents arriving in uniform to help us greet our students during arrival.  We had military personnel placed on the front and side loops to open car doors and get our Monday off to a great start!

All military parents and their children were then invited to the Media Center for coffee and donuts. Our Military Liaison rep was in attendance with some information and a few words as to her role in supporting our military families.

On Tuesday, the entire student body convened at the front drive flagpole at 8:00 am.  Mrs Baumgartner spoke about the flag folding ceremony and the meaning behind each fold of the flag. We then had the change of flag and the flag folding ceremony. The student recited the Pledge of Allegiance and our choir sang the National Anthem. 

Wednesday, April 9 - Purple Up Day (aligning with Virginia State Purple Up Day) 

Students, faculty and staff wore purple tops and jeans on Wednesday and we had a special picnic lunch on the Green. The US Fleet Forces Popular Music Group even came to entertain us during both lunches. The music was great and our Wolfhounds loved the impromptu dance party!

We held a full assembly where we recognized our military-connected students and prayed over them. This gave us a moment to reflect and to show our military families how much they are valued in our community. 

On Friday, students wore red, white, and blue tops and had cupcakes for a special dessert during both lunches. To close out our Military Appreciation Week, we held a Liberty Tree presentation. We usually hold this event outside, but inclement weather forced us to hold the event in the gym. There was a short ceremony where military students received ribbons for any deployments or if their families are leaving Saint Patrick at the end of this year. The prayer to Saint Michael Archangel was read and was followed by a performance by the JR ROTC Drill team to conclude the event.

This has been a truly special week at Saint Patrick Catholic School. We would like to thank Raelyn Baumgartner, Brigid Barrineau, Lauren Howlett, Taylor Kelly, and Teresa Tenney for sitting on the Purple Star committee and planning all of the week’s events and activities. April is our yearly opportunity to highlight the service and sacrifice of both our military personnel and their families, but we appreciate their positive impact on our Wolfhound community each and every day!