Ten New York school districts participate in event to advance understanding of freedom and democracy.
More than 225 students representing 10 school districts on New York’s Long Island spent most of Friday at Nassau Community College piecing together a puzzle of freedom, democracy, D-Day, Gen. George Patton, the U.S. flag and American Legion Family youth programs. It all added up to the second Operation Democracy Civics Summit featuring presenters from as far away as France who shared the importance of America’s founding ideals.
“Freedom,” retired Army Col. Andy Anderson told the assembly, is not “something that gets passed along automatically through our DNA. It takes this kind of commitment from some amazing people who are trying to improve the education process to ensure that you guys have the opportunity to learn. Bright minds will help the rest of your generation. Ensure that we don’t lose what our founding fathers sacrificed to create 250 years ago.”
Operation Democracy has spread beyond its roots at Locust Valley High School where “Flags for Freedom” originated over a decade ago, in collaboration with Howard Van Wagner American Legion Post 962 there. The program, in which each graduating senior receives an American Legion Emblem Sales-purchased 3-by-5 U.S. flag on commencement day, has been adopted by other districts on Long Island.
One example is East Meadow School District. Assistant Superintendent David Spinnato told the students, educators and guests about a strengthening partnership with American Legion Post 1082 there that has included speaking engagements from veterans and a May 10, 2025, “Flag Folding Day” where Legionnaires showed students how the U.S. flag is folded, and what it means, before 660 graduating seniors received theirs.
To amplify the purpose of the event, Spinnato displayed a slide quoting East Meadow Superintendent Ken Rosner: “Flags declare identity, unity, and most of all, the freedom to exist, to believe, to speak, and to dream.”
In breakout sessions, attendees learned about American Legion Family youth programs – such as Boys State, Girls State, Oratorical Contests, Star Spangled Kids, and the American Legion Auxiliary’s Americanism Essay Contest, among and others – and how such programs have been driving civics education forward for a century as public school interest in the subject as waxed and waned in recent years.
Students showed enthusiasm to learn more about the identity of America, U.S. democracy, military history and American Legion youth programs.
“I think that, as citizens of the U.S., it’s good to know what we can do to help society, what we can do to progress,” explained Oyster Bay High School senior Giovanni Marianos, who plans to study law after graduation. “I think that by knowing this information, we can progress, and it can lead to success.”
Operation Democracy Honorary President Cathy Soref explained at the opening of the summit that “it’s a moral responsibility” to revive and enhance civics education in American classrooms.
Margaret Marchand, Operation Democracy’s current president, who organized the summit for the second straight year, shared with students the importance of their community’s – and our nation’s – connections to the Allied liberation of Normandy, France, in World War II.
Locust Valley became the primordial “sister city” with Ste. Mere-Eglise in Normandy, first town liberated by the Americans on June 6, 1944. Locust Valley’s original Operation Democracy shipped relief goods – food, clothing, school supplies, medicine and more – to help the war-torn community recover after it was freed from German occupation.
That relationship was revived about 20 years ago, and the result has been a growing understanding on both sides of the ocean. “You’ve got to realize you have more in common than you don’t,” Marchand told the students and educators, regarding their connection with France. “That was the point of being sister cities – not only financially and philanthropically to help rebuild Europe, but through relationships in the arts, friendships, communities, across an ocean, through culture.”
In 2024, 13 students from Cold Spring Harbor High School went to Normandy for the 81st anniversary of the liberation. Students who participated joined a panel discussion during the summit, in which former Ste. Mere-Eglise Mayor Jean Quetier spoke, as well as Maurice Renaud, son of the D-Day mayor of the Normandy town, now president of Amis des Veterans Amercains (AVA, Friends of American Veterans). The American Legion has worked closely with the AVA and the City of Ste. Mere-Eglise for most of 20 years to keep the meaning of the liberation alive for new generations.
AVA Next Generations President Andgie Demoncy spoke to the students both in breakouts and during the main session about the importance of connecting with veterans in their communities, as she did as a middle-schooler learning about U.S. military sacrifices from veterans who visited Ste. Mere-Eglise for the anniversary each year.
She encouraged participants to “go to their local American Legion post, give them a hand if they need help, help them organize local events … go and sit there for a few minutes and listen to their stories. That’s how I started in Normandy, at 11 years old, by listening to veterans’ histories.”
Demoncy, now 25, remains dedicated to the AVA cause and spreading the lessons of Normandy to students across Europe and the United States, from her home in Normandy. “It’s a life mission,” she explained. “As young people, they have to find their purpose, not only their job purpose, but also something they want to get up for in the morning … something meaningful that can change their vision of the world and can help an individual, such as a veteran.”
The students took in a presentation by Helen Patton, who discussed the life and legacy of her famous World War II grandfather, Gen. George S. Patton, and saw documentary clips from “Mother of Normandy” and “The Sixth of June” about the liberation, its legacy and meaning.
Quetier, born after, in 1951, told the students that he grew up listening to grim stories of the four-year German occupation of Normandy. He said he was raised to never forget the sacrifices that freed France in World War II. “Remember the value,” he said. “The value is democracy and freedom.”
“You’ve got to know history to understand what’s out there – what to try to avoid, what to try to embrace,” Anderson told the students. “So, know your history. Learn your history. Instead of watching regular movies, try to watch some documentaries once in a while, like the ones we have seen here today.”
- Youth