FARMINGTON – Cassandra Ramsay wiped tears from her eyes Wednesday as she spoke about her fiance in Iraq and her stepdad who just came back.
Ramsay, 17, of Farmington, and other teenagers enrolled in a nursing assistant program at Foster Regional Applied Technology Center in Farmington plan to show veterans how much they appreciate their military service. They’re organizing a communitywide celebration Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Mt. Blue High School in Farmington.
They also plan a special tribute to center Director Glenn Kapiloff, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who just returned from a year’s deployment in Iraq.
Each of the teenagers said Wednesday that they know veterans or those serving overseas.
The teenagers are among those working on the project who also have a special connection to Kapiloff.
He was a teacher and mentor to them in middle school.
“We wanted to let him know how much we’ve missed him and how much his service in Iraq meant to us,” said Mallory Stevens, 17, of Farmington.
They have planned a speech to welcome Kapiloff back and to honor other veterans during the ceremony, Stevens said.
Ramsay said Kapiloff is always caring, and he was her teacher, he always wanted to know what was going on in everyone’s life.
“If you had a problem he wanted to help you no matter if it was in or out of school, ” Cora Oliver, 18, of Temple said. “He was very respectful about things you didn’t want to share. He was more than just a teacher; he was a friend.”
He looks very different after his time in Iraq, Ramsay said. She didn’t recognize him at first when he returned to work Monday.
He’s lost weight and he is very pale, Ramsay said.
“You can see it in his face; you can tell he’s seen and experienced a lot in a different world,” Diane Wilson, a registered nurse and instructor of the nursing assistant program, said Wednesday. “But he never brings any of it to work.”
“He seems so happy to be back,” Oliver said.
They have arranged for Steve Bull of Temple to be the disc jockey at the dance, so there will be a mix of music and not just their generation’s, Cassandra Kidd, 16, of Chesterville said.
During the social, a slide show of veterans will be shown with patriotic music playing in the background, said Samantha Mallett, 16, of Farmington.
There will also be a wall of stars, each one containing a veteran’s name, rank and branch of service, she said.
The girls are working on a limited budget and are charging $2 for each photo they put in the slide show and $1 for each star on the wall.
Kapiloff, who was in his office Wednesday, said that it was great to be back at school.
“It feels good. It feels a little overwhelming, but there are not rockets or mortars coming in,” he said.
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