Moccasin Elementary Veterans Day Program

If you blink, you may miss Buchanan, Michigan. A town of approximately 4,000 residents with one high school, one middle school, two elementary schools, a virtual academy, and a Step Up program covers 2.5 square miles in Berrien County. Affectionately known as Redbud City for the Eastern Redbud Trees that line the streets, it’s a cute, vibrant town in southwestern Michigan.

A friend of mine recently moved to Buchanan and accepted a job with Moccasin Elementary, one of the two elementary schools in Buchanan Community Schools. She let me know soon into the school year that they were having a Veterans Day program and wanted to extend the invitation to me, knowing I’m a Navy veteran.

So of course, I attended. At 9:30am on Tuesday, November 12th, I parked at Moccasin Elementary for my first visit. As I was walking in behind an older couple, the man in the tan blazer turned back to me and said, “I fought in the Civil War,” chuckling as he put his arm around my shoulder. “Well, you look great!” I told him, and we shared a nice moment before being greeted by multiple third graders dressed in red, white, and blue thanking us for our service and asking if we would like muffins, water, or coffee. I felt like I met Captain America.

I found myself a seat, enjoyed my cold bottle of water, and looked around the crowd, noticing several members from a local chapter of the American Legion. The classes eventually filed in and took their places on the risers and the program commenced.

Here are some of the performances. Enjoy!

I connected with the school Principal, Mike Babcock, and he was generous enough to share some remarks about the formation of this wonderful event. He shared that, “At the end of last school year, the music teacher, Melissa Prestine, and I spoke about how we wanted to make more connections with the community and produce school programs that were discontinued because of COVID. We talked about a Veterans Day program and a Christmas program. We are moving forward with both. The Veterans Day program was a priority due to the importance of recognizing our community’s heroes.”

Principal Babcock continued, “Since this was the first time we have done a program like this, we were concerned that we would only get a few veterans to show up, but we were pleasantly surprised by the large showing and we look to grow this event for years to come.”

Thank you, Moccasin Elementary, Principal Babcock, Melissa Prestine, and of course the wonderful students that shared with the room of veterans and loved ones.