Leadership and service are important to Pine Bush High School senior Logan Norton-Lapsley. Logan is the vice president of the Interact Club, a member of Youth in Government, head of marketing for the yearbook, a member of the National Honor Society, a graduate of the Leadership and Law summer enrichment academy and was selected to represent Pine Bush at Boys’ State. Logan is also the voice of Pine Bush, doing the announcements every day. Students who don’t know Logan, certainly know his voice! You get the picture.
“Leadership is my thing,” said Logan. “I love it!”
So when he saw a notice on Edward Stelmaszyk’s Google classroom about the opportunity to be a youth guardian for the Hudson Valley Honor Flight (HVHF), he jumped on it.
The Hudson Valley Honor flight is a nonprofit organization that honors American veterans for their sacrifices. They fly the veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials at no cost to them. Each veteran has a guardian with whom they travel.
American Legion posts may nominate the youth guardians, so Logan filled out the application and hand-delivered it to his principal, Aaron Hopmayer. The Legion chose to nominate him and the HVHF chose him for one of just five youth guardian positions. The flight is this Saturday, April 13.
“Logan is an outstanding young man who demonstrates on a daily basis his leadership and his service to the school and community,” said Mr. Hopmayer. “It is a tremendous honor to be selected, and I want to thank the Pine Bush American Legion and Colonel Chris Holshek for supporting his application.”
He will be assigned to a single vet for the day and they will discover DC and Arlington, Virginia, together. Logan’s never been to Washington D.C. so he’s never seen these memorials himself. He is so looking forward to discovering them with his veterans.
They will visit the Capitol Building, Arlington National Cemetery, the Iwo Jima Memorial the Korean War and World War II Memorials, the Vietnam War Memorial and more.
“I am super excited,” said Logan, who plans to study civil engineering in college next year. “I’m thrilled.”
Logan comes from a family of military service. Both his brothers are former Marines. His uncle and grandfather served in the Army. Participating in this HVHF means so much to him.
“This is an honor for me,” said Logan. “I want my veteran to know how much his service means to me and how honored I am to make this trip with him.”
The flight leaves Stewart Airport at 6:30 a.m., Saturday, April 13. Everyone is invited to come to Stewart for the sendoff. It is truly a fitting way to say “Thank you for your service” to these veterans.