Students praise veterans, mentors as Super Citizens

MADISON – More than 1,000 Madison fifth-graders recently filled Zompa Auditorium at Bob Jones High School for their Super Citizen Graduation Celebration.

These students had finished 10 weeks of study in the Super Citizen Program with Liberty Learning Foundation. The youngsters gathered on stage to celebrate their accomplishments and to honor military veterans and other professionals as local heroes.

Sherwin Callander, a U.S. Navy veteran from World War II, was named “The City of Madison Hero.” He was deployed from San Diego, Calif. to eastern United States; Panama Canal; Wake Island and Pearl Harbor; Normandy, France; Italy; Morocco; and Australia.

Callander reported to Pearl Harbor on Dec. 8, 1941 to help with recovery efforts after Japanese attacks. 

“Sherwin told me that the Madison hero award was the most meaningful honor he had ever received or that he would ever hope to receive,” Tricia Bobo with Liberty Learning Foundation Team said. “Sherwin said that (statement) including consideration of his French Legion of Merit award.”

Bobo spent most of the afternoon reading cards and letters from Madison students to Callander. “He was truly moved,” she said.

The fifth-graders also recognized other veterans, including Major Wooten, who served in World War II, and Paul ‘Tom’ McKinney, a Vietnam War veteran, and other members of Forever Young Senior Veterans.

Students chose heroes who embodied the traits of amazing citizens and read essays from stage before presenting them with authentic replicas of the Statue of Liberty. “They learned that ‘when you honor a hero, you become a hero,'” Bobo said.

Liberty Learning Foundation provides civic education programs and live experiences that improve child, community and country. With help from the public, the foundation donates groundbreaking resources, trains teachers, mobilizes volunteers and organizes emotionally charged events to teach, inspire and empower our Great Americans. (libertylearning.org/liberty-learning-news)

Event sponsors included ADTRAN, Alabama Bicentennial, AlaTrade Foods, Alfa, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, The Boeing Company, Huntsville Utilities, Lockheed Martin, Madison City Council, Madison County Commission, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Regions Bank, Screentech, The Malone Family Foundation, Troy 7, Walmart and Yancey Enterprises.

For more information, call 800-239-0005, email getinvolved@libertylearning.org or visit libertylearning.org.