Park Avenue Student Council honors vets at Trees of Heroes ceremony

Park Avenue Student Council members once again honored veterans over the weekend, with their annual participation in the Trees of Heroes program at the Orange County Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Goshen. The council has been involved in this meaningful initiative from its start in 2020. This year’s ceremony took place this past Sunday, and there were a lot of Park Avenue students, families, alumni, and faculty on hand to hang ornaments.

_{See a gallery of pictures from the tree decorating event below this story!}

The Trees of Heroes program gives families and friends of US service members a special way to honor their loved ones, by creating personalized tree ornaments. The veterans’ photos are sent to the student council from members of the community and then crafted into the ornaments that are then hung on the trees at the front of the cemetery. One of many annual student council activities, this one coincides with the holiday season, so families can visit the cemetery and see their loved ones honored in this special, seasonal way.

While many of the veterans honored with an ornament are from local families, not every ornament represents a veteran who is interred at the Goshen cemetery. Student Council Co-Advisor Amy Buliung explained the significance of including ornaments for those servicemen and women whose graves are somewhere else.

"This is special for people who are transplants like me, coming from Boston," she said. "I hang my grandfather’s picture on the tree, which makes this a special place for me. Even though my grandfather is not buried here, it still gives me a place to remember him."

An important aspect of the decorating process is how each veteran is individually honored as their ornament is hung. For each ornament that is hung, the people placing it take a moment to pause and say the name of the veteran.

"My favorite part was probably when we held up the ornaments and we said thank you for your service," said Student Council Vice President Charles Valentino.

Leading up to the event, Park Avenue teacher and Student Council Co-Advisor Theresa Canfield shared with the students the idea that every individual has two deaths: the first when they pass away, and a second the last time someone speaks their name. Speaking the names year to year ensures their memories live on.

"It's a really nice touch,” Ms. Buliung added. “It's such a special way for us to say their names out loud, as a way to pay our respects."

Helping students understand the connection veterans play in their local community is another meaningful part of this program. This year, student council members were given a tour of the cemetery, where they visited Ms. Canfield's father's grave, who fought in the Korean War. They also had a special guest with them, Gloria Thomas, aka "Grandma Glo." Grandma Glo, now 92, was there to honor her late husband, Jack Thomas, a US Army Veteran. Park Avenue and Sanfordville music teacher Keely Blaikner was also there, honoring her father.

For Student Council President Macie Fisher, Trees of Heroes has been her favorite event of the year so far, and she especially appreciates the opportunity to pay tribute to the veterans who are important to her teachers.

"I liked being able to honor veterans who sacrificed their lives to protect our country,” she said. “Especially, like, Ms. Canfield's dad and also our orchestra teacher, Ms. Blaikner's, dad."

As mentioned earlier, the Park Avenue Student Council first got involved in Trees of Heroes in 2020, and that was because their usual holiday season event to honor veterans had been cancelled; that event was Wreaths Across America. In 2020, the nationwide program called off or significantly scaled down most of its events all over the country. But, in the years since, the program has come back… and so has the Park Avenue Student Council!

What is Wreaths Across America? A great question that is best answered by the student-produced video below!

But the basics are that the Student Council has raised money that will go directly toward buying pine wreaths. The students will take the wreaths back to the cemetery on December 13 and place them on the graves of veterans. It’s one of the many ways that the Park Avenue Student Council honors our veterans every year, with gratitude for their service and keeping their memories alive.

The Park Avenue Student Council is grateful for everyone's help in raising the green to buy the greens for this year's Wreaths Across America event!

Wreaths Across America 2025: Park Avenue Student Council