On October 12, the Peekskill City School District's Athletic Department hosted Football Alumni Day and held a special ceremony to retire the jerseys of former Peekskill players, Tre Johnson III and Billy Thomas (pictured above), both of whom went on to play for the NFL after their time at Peekskill. Johnson and Thomas are the second and third Peekskill High School football players to have their jerseys retired.

  The ceremony included a surprise visit from Johnson's family, as well as over 100 alumni from the class of 1973. As the day's honorees were presented with their retired jerseys at midfield, all of the alumni in attendance made their way onto the field to become part of the celebration, each carrying placards signifying the elementary school they had attended in Peekskill.

"It's always great to come back to Peekskill," said Thomas. "...To become the second and third players from Peekskill High School football to have our jerseys retired is humbling, and I can't tell you how proud I am to represent Peekskill in my travels. It all started right here."  

To read more about this event, visit our Peekskill City Schools Blog here.

During the month of October, the Peekskill Fire Department teamed up with the Peekskill City School District to help promote Fire Safety and Prevention Month to young students. Peekskill Firefighters visited Woodside and Oakside Elementary Schools to teach children about what they can do in the event of a fire and spoke with the children about fire safety facts. Students had the opportunity to examine the protective clothes worn by firefighters and were shown the equipment firefighters use to help protect people and put out fires. The children were especially excited to have the chance to see a real fire truck up close.

In recognition of the month's theme, students from Woodside and Oakside also submitted posters for the Peekskill Firefighters Association's 2013 Fire Prevention Poster contest. The first place winner of the Pete Volkman Award was third-grader, Mya Esmeralda Melendez of Ms. Delmonico's class at Oakside Elementary. See below for a complete list of winners.

2013 Fire Prevention Poster Contest Winners

Woodside Elementary:

Kindergarten - Diego Hurtado of Ms. Kovarovic's class

1st Grade - Jennifer Meza of Ms. Purificato's class

Oakside Elementary:

2nd Grade - Moriah Downes of Ms. O'Donovan's class

3rd Grade - Rosalynn Rubia of Mrs. Lynch's class

Pete Volkman Award - Mya Esmeralda Melendez of Ms. Delmonico's third grade class

To read more about this story, visit our Peekskill City Schools Blog here.