SSG Matthew Pucino and the WMS 8th Grade House
We wanted to put up a post for you regarding our upcoming visit to Arlington National Cemetery and our most recent focus in TAG and house block with our homerooms:
Over the past four years the 8th grade house has become extremely close with the parents, sisters, nieces, nephews, and fellow soldiers of Staff Sergeant Matthew Pucino. Matthew was a Special Forces Green Beret soldier from Plymouth, MA who was killed in Afghanistan in November of 2009. In TAG and house block we shared with the 8th grade class the story of Matthew, as a soldier, a brother, a son, and an uncle. Matthew's two sisters, Melissa and Lisa have shared with us over the years many photos and stories of their brother which in turn we have shared with the 8th grade students leading up to the D.C. trip. The bond between Matthew's family and the school has grown over the past few years and we are honored to have this bond continue with this year's class and the Pucino Family. Through Matthew and has family we in turn try to teach the students the importance of paying respect, remembering, and honoring our nation's fallen soldiers.
While at Arlington National Cemetery in D.C. we will be visiting Matthew's gravesite and giving the students an opportunity to remember one of many of our nation's fallen heroes.
This year the 8th grade class is especially honored as the entire Pucino family will be visiting the middle school in June. Students and staff will have the opportunity to meet with the Pucino's and pay their respects to Matthew's family as well. Matthew's family, in part inspired by the 8th grade house, recently created the Matthew Pucino Memorial Foundation. The goal of the foundation is to raise funds for the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund (this fund raises money to help support the families of fallen soldiers from MA) and the Green Beret Foundation (this foundation supports Green Beret soldiers who sustained injuries in combat and their rehabilitation back home).
At D.C. Night as in the past few years it has become a tradition that the 8th grade house honor's Matthew by holding a bake sale fundraiser to make a donation on behalf of the Wayland community to Matthew's foundation. Over the past 3 years we have raised more than $3000.00 for Matthew's foundation with our D.C. night fundraiser bake sale. We also will be selling t-shirts from Matthew's foundation at D.C. Night.
Through Matthew's family's willingness to share their fallen hero's story with our students we have been able to teach them the importance of honoring and remembering the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make as they serve our country. We have also been able to share with them the importance of paying respect to our nation's fallen soldiers as well. While in D.C. we will be honored to visit Matthew at Arlington National Cemetery along with all of our other fallen military heroes.
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