Celebrate Our Heroes program is a character curriculum education program that teaches children about the character traits of our veterans, their families and Gold Star Families. It aims to foster an attitude of gratitude for our veteran community via service projects and connecting students with Gold Star Family members and Veterans.

We implore you to participate in this important educational effort to create awareness by printing the posters from our Gallery of Heroes and place them through your school and classroom. Please read and discuss each fallen hero with your students throughout the year to honor their service and sacrifice.

To print a Fallen Hero Poster, click on the Gallery of Heroes link and
press Control + P on a PC or Command + P on a Mac.
Then choose which pages you would like to print.

Additional lesson plans for Freedom Week may be found in Blender.

Biographies of our fallen heroes:

The bios can be printed off of the Celebrate Our Heroes website and placed in each classroom to remind the students to have an attitude of gratitude. Gold Star Families week is the last week of September when the families are honored for their sacrifices. Children will learn about Gold Star Families during Freedom week, which is also the last week of September.

Freedom Week:

To educate students about the sacrifices made for freedom in the founding of this country and the values on which this country was founded, the last full week of classes in September shall be recognized in public schools as Celebrate Freedom Week. Celebrate Freedom Week must include at least 3 hours of appropriate instruction in each social studies class, as determined by each school district, which instruction shall include an in-depth study of the intent, meaning, and importance of the Declaration of Independence.

Memorial Day:

Each Memorial Day at participating schools, the bio of one fallen service member  is given to one school class.  That class learns about the life of that service member and creates a tribute gift (a quilt or booklet) honoring that person's character traits and life, which is then eventually gifted to the respective gold star family. Where available, Celebrate Our Heroes arranges for local gold star families to speak with students about their lost loved one. 

Veterans Day:

Options for students to meet Veterans, student projects may consist of creating poppies out of tissue paper or playing a match game with the Veterans to see if they can guess which Veteran matches their experiences.

Our program will help students learn the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day and why we are grateful for the sacrifice of our service members, their families and Gold Star Families.

Other service project ideas to engage your students:

• Handmade card distribution to thank Gold Star Families, Veterans or Active Duty for their service and sacrifice.

• Create a Wall of Honor in your school or classroom to include the bios of our fallen heroes.

• Perseverance Essay Contest

• Write letters of gratitude and encouragement to our Veterans and their families at the West Palm Beach Fisher House and West Palm Beach VA Medical Center.

• Write letters of gratitude and encouragement to our Active Duty troops to be placed in We Care packages at Forgotten Soldiers Outreach

All three winners will be given a Certificate, $100 Visa gift card and will also be awarded a Palm Beach County Gold Star Families Challenge Coin. All three winners will also be honored at a district Board Meeting at the Fulton Holland Educational Services Center.

Please share your ideas, pictures and memories with Lauren via email.