Shaw Avenue Elementary honors local heroes

Shaw Avenue Elementary school hosted it’s third annual Gratitude Night on Tuesday, May 23 at 7 p.m. Gratitude Night is an event held to celebrate local heroes in the community. This year’s theme was “ A Salute to Heroes.”

The student council comprised of grades 4-6 began researching about the community. An NYPD officer, a firefighter, and a member of the Coast Guard came to visit the students and speak about their jobs. The more the students learned about each job, they more they wanted to give back,” said Shaw Avenue teacher, Allison Hammond.

Students, family members and teachers nominated people they knew within the community with professions that give back to the community. Gratitude Night, featured presentations, speeches, a dance from the schools Zumba Club, and a video about heroes. The event honored 25 local members of the community including veterans, active military, firefighters, and police officers. About 200 people attended the event held in the Shaw Ave School gym.

Each hero was honored with a certificate. Two local families in the area had been affected by hardship, “we definitely had some families that we wanted to spotlight from the area,” Hammond said. 

This is the third year in a row that Shaw Avenue School has held the event. The first Gratitude Night had a community theme, where members of the community were honored, then last year’s theme honored teachers.