Pilgrims visit Northport third graders

Students in Megan Castiglia and Susan Poveromo’s third grade classes at Northport K8 School were visited recently in the media center by Pilgrims direct from the Port St. Lucie American Legion Post 318. Pictured are Walter Sawyer, standing far right, as John Alden, with Rita Woodburn as Governor Bradford’s wife, Ann Mallardi as Priscilla Mullens and Gianna Vallee as Becky, a young child on the Mayflower. The ensemble told the students that 102 people were on the Mayflower crossing and only about half survived the trip, with only five women surviving. They spoke of the hardships the Pilgrims endured and also about the New World. Children learned that Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president, designated Thanksgiving as a national holiday and talked about the food eaten at the first Thanksgiving, such as wild game, lobster, clams and mussels. Students took away three valuable lessons from the pilgrims: everyone had to work hard and pull their weight to live, not to waste food and take it for granted because the Pilgrims had very little, and that plain, simple people will do anything for freedom, including crossing rough seas in a wooden boat with few supplies. Special thanks to the American Legion 318 for bringing history alive for Northport students and offering each student an American flag. Pictured standing, from left, are Gianna Vallee, Rita Woodburn, Ann Millardi and Walter Sawyer with several students.