BPS Joins 'Blue Star Welcome Week' Movement To Welcome Military Families
Bourne Public Schools has declared September 23 through October 1 to be designated as its first-ever Blue Star Welcome Week, joining a grassroots movement to recognize military and veteran-connected families in the district.
School committee chairwoman Emily Berry made the proclamation after the committee’s unanimous vote at last Wednesday’s meeting.
Blue Star Welcome Week, the district said, is part of a nonprofit organization that provides relocated active duty and transitioning military families with opportunities to connect with their neighbors and local organizations. The goal of the campaign is to create “vibrant communities of mutual support.”
The campaign is hosted by Blue Star Families, which annually designates the last week in September as Welcome Week. Blue Star Families is one of the nation’s top nonprofits working to directly support military and veteran families in their local communities.
The district’s proclamation highlights Bourne’s partnership with Joint Base Cape Cod and the military families living there. The release also said that only one-third of respondents to the 2022 Military Family Lifestyle Survey reported feeling a sense of belonging to the local civilian community.
In proclaiming this week as Blue Star Welcome Week, the district committed itself to ensuring that military and veteran families feel a strong sense of belonging to their local communities, and urged community members to actively welcome those families.
“We are very grateful to join in this nationwide campaign to further enhance BPS’s proud and longstanding relationship with our partner Joint Base Cape Cod, our military-connected families, our veterans and our community as a whole,” BPS Superintendent Kerri Anne Quinlan-Zhou said in a statement. “Taking part in Blue Star Welcome Week directly relates to one of the pillars of our district strategy, building community, which states that as a district we strive to engage both students and families in their learning.”
Dr. Zhou told the school committee last week that the opportunity was first floated via email and, after discussing it with school administration, the district eagerly decided to take on the designation.
“We thought Bourne is such a welcoming place, especially with our partnership with Joint Base Cape Cod, so we really wanted to take this on as a designation,” she said. “[There are] lots of great things happening for and with our military-connected families and we’re just really happy about being able to designate this week.”