Stewart School Thanksgiving Assembly

Stewart School students make a fashion statement circa 1950 in blue jeans and poodle skirts.

To celebrate the 70th Birthday of Stewart Avenue School, this year's annual Thanksgiving Assembly focused on the history of the school, the Village of Garden City, and the nation from 1930 to the present. Each class chose a decade and prepared a presentation designed to convey the spirit of the period through representative events, literature, clothing, inventions, sports and other aspects of culture.

From Jesse Owen's achievement in track and field at the 1936 Olympics, through the New Deal and World War II; poodle skirts, slinkies, hoola hoops, and peace signs; the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King's Peace Prize; the introduction of zip codes and the rising price of stamps; color television, the twist, and a walk on the moon; Little House on the Prairie, The Cat in the Hat, the Muppets, and the Monkeys; not to mention the administrations of 12 presidents, the students summarized more than 70 years of contemporary history with insight and panache.

The morning assembly featured presentations by third graders in Carol Lansdale, Anne Kret, Carmela Joyce, and Cynthia Sclafani's classes, while the afternoon featured students in Regina Lehan, Corina Tesoriero, Elizabeth Crimmins, and Keri Cassidy's classes. In the 1950s, "everybody liked Ike," proclaimed one student, "we liked him so much that we named Eisenhower Park after Dwight D. Eisenhower, our 34th president."

Tie-dyed t-shirts and peace symbols capture the spirit of the 1960s and 1970s.

The program also included music representative of each period. The morning groups offered rousing renditions of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Rockin' Robin, I'm A Believer, and Celebration. The afternoon groups sang Over the River and Through the Woods, YMCA, You Got A Friend In Me, and God Bless the U.S.A.

Both programs concluded by wishing Stewart School a happy birthday in Spanish with a performance of Cumpleaños Feliz.

Stewart School students flash the peace sign as they await the start of the assembly. The Afro, center, is a mid-century icon.