Asbury Park Middle School : 2015 Veterans Day

On November 2, 2015 Mr. Wronko, social studies teacher invited Lou Parisi, World War II veteran and Alfonse Freda, Korean War veteran, back to Asbury Park Middle School. This year the two veterans were
treated to student presentations on famous battles in history. These presentations were done in Microsoft Power Point. Those presentations were as follows, the Battle of Midway (World War II), the Use of the Atomic Bomb (World War II), D-Day (World War II), the Korean War, the Vietnam War, World War One, Iwo Jima (World War II), the Raid on Bin Laden, the Battle of Yorktown (American Revolution), and the Battle of Trenton (American Revolution). After the students were done with their presentations, Alfonso Freda gave a presentation about his service in the Korean War. He also showed the students his uniform and military boots. From there, Lou Parisi shared his experiences in the military as well as explained to the students to always pray for everlasting peace. After the veterans did their presentations, they answered numerous questions from the students such as how was their boot camp experience and how did serving in the military change their life. After Mr. Wronko’s class, Lou Parisi and Alfonso Freda went to Mr. Schneider’s social studies class. In Mr. Schneider’s class, Lou Parisi and Alfonso Freda gave another presentation about their military experience. In addition, Mr. Schneider informed the veterans that his grandfather served in World War II on the battleship Missouri. Mr. Schneider’s grandfather was a gunner who took out many Japanese Kamikaze planes. After their presentation in Mr. Schneider’s class,
the veterans were introduced to a Veteran’s Day bulletin board created by science teacher Mr. Mason. Mr. Mason also informed the veterans that he had family who served in major wars. Furthermore, Mr. Wronko’s students participated in the Patriot’s Pen thanks to Lou Parisi. Here are two essays written by Mr. Wronko’s students.

What does freedom mean to me?
To me freedom means to be able to make your own choices and decisions. However, in order for me and others to have that freedom you may have to fight for it or be fortunate to have others create a society that allows you to be free. First, in order to have freedom you may have to fight for it. For example, eighteen year old Pakistani girl Malala was not born free. In fact in Mingora, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (the place where Malala lives), the Taliban banned girls from attending school. As a result, Malala did not have the freedom of going to school. However, she fought politically to attend school which opened the doors for other women to do the same. Therefore, she fought for freedom not only for herself but for other women. Another example of fighting for freedom were freed slaves. Like Malala, slaves were not born free. Slaves were beaten or killed if they did not perform their tasks. However, slaves fought for their freedom by working with Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad and volunteering to serve in the army for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War. Although Malala and slaves were not born free, they earned their freedom by fighting for it. These two examples show that freedom
should not be taken for granted. Second, in order to have freedom you may be fortunate to have others create a society that allows you to be free. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. fits that description. Martin Luther King Jr. was born without civil freedom. Instead of civil freedom, Martin had to deal
with segregation. Therefore, he was not free at all. When Martin Luther King Jr. became an adult he decided to fight segregation. He fought segregation with his voice instead of his fists. This led him
to leading the Civil Rights Movement. His movement consisted of non-violent protests. These non-violent protests sparked national attention because no matter what the police did to members of the Civil Rights movement, the police never received retaliation. Instead, the members of the Civil Rights movement followed Martin Luther King Jr. by using their voices for freedom for all. Therefore, Martin Luther King Jr. and his Civil Rights Movement fought nonviolently for the freedom of others. This eventually created a society that everyone was free and fortunate to be born into. In conclusion, freedom means to be able to make your own choices and decisions. But to have this freedom you may have to fight for it or be
fortunate to have others create a society that allows you to be free. I was lucky enough to be born into a society that was created for freedom.
By Perfecto Kendle

What does freedom mean to me?
Freedom is the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without restraint. The word freedom has little meaning unless we specify. Freedom is our birthright as an American citizen. Freedom does not come without a very high price. Everyone, every man, woman, and child who goes to sleep in peace is able to because some other loyal American, somewhere has made the choice to lay down their life for them. Many things that we have the freedom to do today, things like being able to worship the God of our choice, to have the right for an education; the right to be human were not easy in the earning. Many wars were fought for our freedom, wars such as the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to put a cease to terrorism. We are a free country because of many sacrifices and great leaders. Because of this America is the land of the free and home of the brave. The freedom that we have today, the freedom that some may take for granted, other innocent people can only dream about. Sometimes we take freedom for granted and do not think of all the little things that we enjoy because we are free. Furthermore, if we make mistakes in our lives, living in a country like ours allows us to correct them. If mistakes are made in another country, you might not get that chance to correct them. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Freedom is not worth having it if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” Anyone can make mistakes; some just refuse to learn from them. But you still have the freedom to correct them. I have the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them, and when you stop and think about how different life would be without freedom, it makes you very thankful to live in a country and enjoy the promise of freedom. In conclusion, freedom means to me that I can do what I want because of our veterans, current soldiers, and past and current great leaders who created and still are fighting for the freedom I was born into. For example, even now, in the current and ongoing fight against ISIS, soldiers are fighting for our and other people’s freedom because the terrorists want to end the idea of a good life. In closing, from all in all, freedom contains everything we want which is life and the pursuit of happiness. It is the ability to make choices on your own without having to be told.
By Christlie Lavarin

Big THANK YOU goes out to all our veterans and their service. Also Mr. Wronko wants to acknowledge the following students and their participation on Veterans Day:

Kayla Byrd

Daniele Delgado

Viridiana Jacobo

Perfecto Kendly

Tatiana Laurore

Christlie Lavarin

Oscar Limon Vasquez

Rodney Loiseau

Maria Lopez

Asion Murchison

Yahsir Ofori-Afari

ShyAsya Parker