Chocachatti second graders honor veterans in Memorial Day program

Second graders at Chocachatti Elementary turned a patriotic program into a community lesson in service, history and remembrance, bringing veterans, families, alumni and school staff together in Brooksville for a Memorial Day-themed performance on May 7.

The annual tradition is built around the entire second-grade class performing a patriotic show that honors either Veterans Day or Memorial Day. This year’s presentation was first shared during the school day with fellow students and staff, then repeated in the evening for families, community members, alumni, veterans and military personnel. The program paired student voices with the stories of real service members, making the celebration feel rooted in Hernando County’s own military history.

Before the curtain rose, honored guests were treated to a buffet from Mission BBQ, along with hors d’oeuvres and beverages provided by the school. Among the veterans recognized were Jack Downing, a 20-year Army veteran who joined at 17 in 1973 and served during the Vietnam War era and Operation Desert Storm, and Edward Sutton, who served five years in the Navy as a corpsman, spent part of his service at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and later worked in an intensive care unit. Downing said his family has served in the military since the Revolutionary War, and he said a grandson is now serving in the Marines in the Pacific.

The show itself reflected weeks of work from Chocachatti’s specials teachers and second-grade classroom teachers. Rhonda Bowers handled dance, Irmarie Kraft drama, Nancy Kraus music and Melanie Dilly art, while the classroom teachers were Chantel Holmlund, Diana Lichtenwalter, Michelle McCall, Robert Russell, MaryClaire Taylor, Lisa VanCleave and Susan Viola. Together, they helped students move between skits, songs, dancing and tributes to veterans.

The program mixed civics and performance with skits about Benjamin Franklin’s turkey, Betsy Ross and the first American flag, and the signing of the bill making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem. Students also performed pieces tied to the bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, Francis Scott Key, World War II-era music and a tribute called “Welcome Home.” At Chocachatti, a public magnet school in the Hernando County School District with Performing Arts and MicroSociety programs, the stage has long been part of the curriculum. MicroSociety says the school opened in Brooksville in 1999 as a K-5 Performing Arts MicroSociety magnet school, and this year’s Memorial Day program showed how that mission still plays out in front of parents, veterans and neighbors.