November 20, 2020  |  Waterbury Roundabout

**Giving Thanks by preschool students at Hunger Mt. Children’s Center, submitted by teacher Bethany Fuller.**

As the calendar winds down each year, the Thanksgiving national holiday anchors the festive season leading up to the start of a new year. Gatherings of families and friends sharing meals around the table are the hallmark of the annual celebrations. Faced with foregoing these social rituals in a pandemic, our Thanksgiving celebrations will likely play out differently this year. But that doesn't erase our collective thankfulness for what we hold dear.

The Waterbury Roundabout looked to young people this year to share their thoughts on how Thanksgiving 2020 might be different. More importantly, we wanted to know about the things for which they are giving thanks. Here are their responses.

- Lisa Scagliotti, editor, Waterbury Roundabout

Jesse McDougall, 19, from Waterbury Center, is a second-year University of Toronto student studying political science.

Thank you essential workers for working so hard.

Thank you people who stay home when they are sick.

Thank you friends for staying in touch.

Thank you people who wear masks in public.

Thank you teachers who are still teaching us.

Thank you people who are kind.

You are the people who push us and help us through these hard times. Keep it up.

Maisy Gendimenico, age 11, 6th grade CBMS

This year I am thankful for something different than other years. This year I am thankful for all of the doctors and nurses who are fighting basically for their own lives and the lives of others. They are working in the hospital all day every day just helping others stay safe and healthy taking the risk of getting themselves sick just to save others. That is why this year I am thankful for all nurses and doctors.

Adelaide Chalmers, 5th grade CBMS

I'm thankful for family, friends and being alive.

Ezekiel Penrod, 5th grade CBMS

I am thankful for the musical Hamilton.

Zoe Legeros, 5th grade CBMS

Thanksgiving is different because you don't really have people coming over because of coronavirus.

Ben Aschoff, 6th grade CBMS

I am thankful for my friends and family, who have been so helpful during this pandemic. And, of course, my dog, who will always be a puppy at heart.

Hadley Gilson, age 10, grade 5 CBMS

I am thankful for my house, it keeps me warm and keeps a roof over my head. I am also thankful for my family because they feed me and they make sure I'm loved.

Maclyn Buckingham, 5th grade CBMS

I'm thankful for my mom, dad, brother, kitty, and my puppy for always being there

for me even through rough times. I'm thankful for my teachers who help me learn,

and I'm thankful for my friends who I can always count on to have fun with me.

Lianna Bravin, age 10, 5th grade CBMS

I am thankful for nurses and doctors. I am also thankful for Vermont.

Emerson Paine, age 7, 2nd grade TBPS

I am thankful for the doctors and nurses who are trying to come up with a vaccine for Covid 19.

Griffin Paine, age 9, 4th grade TBPS

I am thankful for trees for they help us breathe, and my mom that is very calm. Also my rad, glad dad and pet, nets and vets. Doctors and lockers and soccer, and I am thankful for a mouse and my house. Now water, authors and dollars and food and the zoo. I am thankful for so much more than just that.

Azalea Eagan, age 9, 4th grade TBPS

I am thankful for my friends and my family. I am especially thankful for my friends this year because last year I used to see my friends at recess and in class everyday but this year I don't see my friends as much so it's even more special when I do see my friends.

Paris Holder, age 10, TBPS

Something that comes to mind for me when I think about Thanksgiving is all my family sitting around a table and sharing a Thanksgiving meal, I also imagine one of my cats in a turkey suit. In 2020, something I'm grateful for are my cats that we got in the early start of Covid-19, I'm also grateful for my family that lives far away and my friends that I can no longer come face-to-face with, I'm also grateful for my grandfather and my immediate family because they are family. Thanksgiving is different for me this year because none of our family can all go to my Great Aunt and Uncle's house for Thanksgiving this year, and that means no family dinner around the dinner table, so no oh so good bread!

Hazel Rost, age 11, 5th grade, CBMS

From children at Kelley Hackett’s Daybreak Childcare

A COVID thanks

Shift of our lifestyle

Essential workers step up

Thankful for you all

Jeswin Antony, age 15, grade 10 Harwood Union

Essential workers are

Soldiers of the world

Saving weaker and older

from unseen enemy.

Thank you all.

Yoshwin Antony, age 9, 4th grade TBPS

Thankful thoughts

I am thankful for myself and my mom and dad.

I am thankful for my grandpa.

I am thankful for people making things right like firefighters, police, ambulance.

I am thankful that I am here in life with my friends.

Ridley Tessier, age 9, 4th grade TBPS

Dear Waterbury,

I am thankful for the state because it’s a great state and I think that we can make it better.

Susannah Rye, age 6, Waterbury

I’m thankful for all the time spent with my family.

Elijah Patenaude, 5th grade, CBMS

This year I am thankful for a lot of things, but most of all my family and friends who have supported me throughout this year. My parents have always been there for me; they’ve been there to give a pep talk, to listen as I go on and on about all the things that annoy me, to give advice whenever I need it, to wrap me up in a hug and say, “We’ll all be okay in the end,” and to give me some perspective on the world. My teacher, who has always been there to paint a bright spot of optimism into a dull day, to nod understandingly, and to give me a look that says nothing but “you’ve got this, you're almost there.” Each and every one of my friends who have been there to cheer me on, to pull me up off the ground, to jump up and down with me for any reason at all, to sit with me and talk, and to run up and say “Your it!” and run off laughing. My dogs who have always been there to lick my hand, to snuggle up with me, to jump up and bark “You're here! I missed you so much!” Everyone who has helped me through this year I just want to say, you guys mean the world to me and I will always be grateful.

Thank you to everyone who has been there for me.

Quinn Jackson, age 10, 4th grade, TBPS

What I am thankful for

I am thankful for so much more this year,

For the things I’m glad to have and hold very dear,

My siblings and my parents,

The new developments,

My pets which I love so, so much,

The tech I have to keep in touch,

The library so I can get books,

Everything that keeps my imagination loose,

Space so I can go and play,

The air I breathe in every day,

I’m thankful for all my friends too,

That I can now see them at school,

I am thankful for my food and drink,

And what more, just let me think,

I am thankful for the ability to speak out,

To say what I need to through whisper or shout.

Julia Wulff, age 11, 6th grade, CBMS

Thanksgiving

Even though 2020 is hard, we can still be thankful. I am thankful that I have food to eat and a house to live in. I am also thankful for my dog and two cats that can keep me company and play with me. I am thankful for being able to go to school and see my friends. Most of all, I am thankful that me and my family are healthy and are staying safe and that covid-19 is becoming less of a threat.

Anna Wulff, age 9, 4th grade, TBPS

Thankful

I am thankful for my health and safety in covid-19. Thankful for living in a safe state that wears masks and social distances. Usually, I wouldn't say my health and safety any other year because it is not a global pandemic. But this year is different. I am thankful for living in a small town with safe rules that the community follows.

Memphis Backman, 4th grade, TBPS

*Isabella’s drawing of an imposter game character*

I am thankful for the Internet. It gives everyone schooling and games in COVID-19.

I’m including a picture of an imposter from the game Among Us which is an online game that we play together. My friends and I made up a version that we play together during recess in person.

The main point of the game is that there are hidden imposters in the game that are trying to destroy the spaceship they are in. The crewmates job is to save the ship and stop the imposters. The image is a picture of the imposter character with its true imposter shadow coming through.

Isabella Ruby Pockoski, 5th grade CBMS

I am thankful for the food that fills my stomach every day, the roof over my head with a loving family. I am thankful for the sports I can do and being healthy during this pandemic and being able to go to school unlike other schools and having a great news team called the Waterbury Roundabout.

Trey Isham, 4th grade, TBPS

I am thankful to go to school during Covid-19 so that I can see my friends. I am thankful to have a nice house to come home to and that my family is healthy. We have a dog that I like to play with outside. I am thankful to live in a place where I can get out in the woods to hike, bike and ski, and enjoy mountain views.

Ben Wright, 4th grade TBPS

Giving Thanks