When Megan Castellano of West Windsor entered the VFW “Voice of Democracy” contest, little did she know that she would win the first place award in Mercer County, District 19, or that she would be asked to read her speech in front of the West Windsor Municipal Building after the Memorial Day Parade. At the award ceremony in Hamilton on May 6 she received a college scholarship. A senior at High School North, she will be studying political science and communications in the Boston University Honors Program.
A member of the National Honor Society for two years, she received the State of New Jersey Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholar Award, the Rotary of the Princeton Corridor Youth Leadership Award, and the St. Timothy Award of Recognition to Community. She was nominated for the Woman of Achievement Award, American Legion Girls’ State, and Homecoming Queen.
Her writing awards include first place in the National Youth Leadership Forum’s Essay Contest and in the Fifth Annual High School Journalism Contest. She was a topical winner in the sixth Annual National High School Poetry Contest, took third place in the Sixth Annual High School Journalism Contest, and was an essay winner in the West Windsor Lions Club in 2003.
Last summer she was nominated and chosen to participate in the four-week residential New Jersey Governor’s School of Public Issues held at Monmouth University.
At High School North, Megan is president of Interact, a peer leader for three years, varsity captain of the lacrosse team, president of Rebel anti-tobacco club, and is feature editor for the Knightly News. She is also a youth mentor with Eighth Grade Connections, organization section editor and designer of Excalibur Yearbook for two years, and is Board of Education representative from the school.
In her spare time, she is a private tutor of high school subjects, and works as a waitress at Carlucci’s in West Windsor. She was an intern with Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein for two summers.
Megan’s community service includes being a Habitat for Humanity volunteer to build houses in Trumbauersville, Pennsylvania in 2003, a League of Women Voters of Monroe Township volunteer, and a managed children’s games at Plainsboro Founders’ Day.
Born in Garden City, Long Island, Megan and her family moved to West Windsor when she was in fourth grade. She attended Hawk School, Upper Elementary, Community Middle. Her mother, Osana, is a college professor and corporate trainer at Mercer County Community College. Her father, Michael, is director of engineering at ACE USA in New York City.
At St. David the King Catholic Church, she is a lector and usher at Sunday Mass, a religious education teacher, and a senior high youth group member. She also works with Diocese of Trenton television show, Real Safe TV, a teen show that explores teen issues.
Two years ago, she began co-coordinating collections for Womanspace and has held five fundraisers since then. In the first drive alone, she and a friend collected $450, more than 20 frozen turkeys, and more than 60 grocery bags of food. During the second drive, the team collected snacks and cash donations. Megan’s older sister, Kristen, a rising senior and finance major at Loyola College in the Sellinger Scholars business honors program, was the first in the family to become involved with fundraising for Womanspace.
“After Boston University, I plan on going to law school and becoming an attorney,” says Megan. “Then I aspire to be a legal political analyst on television.”
— Lynn Miller
Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony, West Windsor Township Recreation, High School South, Clarksville Road, 609-799-2400. Parade along Clarksville Road continues to the township building. Participants include dignitaries, elected officials, Scouts, and other community groups. Memorial service at the All Wars Memorial at the corner of North Post and Clarksville roads. Refreshments. To participate, contact Gay Huber at ext. 213. Free. 11 a.m.
“Celebrating Our Veterans’ Service”
by Megan Castellano
Our freedom is never free.
We, the privileged citizens of the United States of America, revel in the liberty and justice we are granted every single day. So easy is it to forget the tireless efforts of the men and women who ensure our freedom, and who have sacrificed so selflessly for their country. So easy is it to shield ourselves from the harsh realities of the world.
Our veterans — the backbone of our nation, the fuel for our fire of democracy, the courageous, patriotic and altruistic.
We glance back through the looking glass of history, and suddenly it becomes clear why our country has endured since 1776, through the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Persian Gulf, Kosovo, and many more. It is thanks to our veterans that our nation, with its quest to ensure the natural rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to all Americans, has prospered for generations . . .
. . . We must remember always to pause and pay tribute to these brave individuals. We remember the veterans who faced the difficulty of being separated from their young and naive children for months; we remember the veterans who relinquished lucrative careers to serve their country; we remember the veterans who were wounded or killed in combat; we remember the veterans who came home, and did not want to remember.
As we celebrate our veterans’ service, we make sure they know their struggles have not gone unnoticed. Because of them, we are able to wave our beautiful red, white, and blue flags. Because of them, we are able to sing the cherished words of our National Anthem. As Francis Scott Key once wrote, “Does not such a country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?” Our veterans are the reason we call the United States the land of the free and the home of the brave.
As a very thankful American citizen, I say to them: I respect other countries, but never will I leave my home. Because of our veterans, on American soil is where I will laugh, where I will cry, and where I will live. And if just for this reason alone, I am lucky.
Thank you to all of you veterans, and may God bless America.
