SLIDESHOW: Walsh Middle Honors Veterans

Speaking before an all-school assembly at Walsh Middle School teacher assistant Will Jantzen said he was not a good student in school. So when he finished high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He enlisted in 2000, just before Sept 11th.

He said he was “nervous and anxious” about going to war.

Jantzen was a last minute speaker at the school’s annual assembly to honor Veterans Day on Tuesday. The school’s resource officer Michael Nichols, a Veteran, was held up in court testifying on a case.

Jantzen said the U.S. Army’s core values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, and integrity are very similar to Walsh’s ROAR values of respect,. ownership, acceptance, and responsibility.

Jantzen, who has been working in the Framingham Public Schools for a decade, said the military allowed him to become more independent. He has worked at both Framingham High and Walsh Middle schools.

Wearing his uniform, he answered students’ questions and friendship and family.

Jantzen told students he didn’t write home or call his mom as much as she would have liked.

He said he received 2-3 letters a week from home, but he only wrote about one letter a week; and he called home every couple of months while stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The assembly was started more than a decade ago by Jodi O’Rourke, who is employed at Walsh and whose dad was a Veteran in the U.S. Marines. Her parents Judy and John McEntegart attended the assembly on Tuesday.

During the assembly, Principal Patrick Johnson welcome the students and special guest Veterans, including Framingham Police Officer Jose Cosme and Framingham Veterans Agent Peter Harvell.

Students sang the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, while the band played America The Beautiful and Taps.

There were also sixth and seventh grade poetry readings in both English and Spanish.