On Tuesday November 22, 2022, ACE had their annual ACE Thanksgiving Feast. Over 300 people from students from Broadview to the mayor of Danbury came to the ACE Thanksgiving. Students at ACE helped set up for the event such as cleaning up the surrounding areas, setting up the rooms for the guests and helping serve the food for the community of Danbury. 

     The event started off with an opening ceremony where ACE principal John Weber spoke on how much the Thanksgiving feast means to ACE and thanked the people for coming to the event. Lori Esposito, an ace alumni, showed how much ACE means to her and ACE founder Joe Pepin. Mike Chapman, a former science and math teacher of ACE, told stories of him and Joe from the early days of the school. Barbara Lanza, Joe Pepin’s daughter, talked about how much Joe loved ACE just like his own son. The mayor, Dean Esposito, came to say a few words about ACE on how much it means to Danbury and his gratitude towards ACE for doing the event. Lastly, Genesis Andujar, who is a current student of ACE, did the closing for the opening ceremony.

Serving for the food started at 11 am until 12:30 pm. The food consisted of bread rolls, mixed greens, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, turkey and gravy. There was a dessert room in Glenda’s room which had an assortment of cookies, pies/cakes, and pastries. All the food served during the event was made by the Henry Abbott Tech School culinary class.

I asked a couple of questions on how people enjoyed the ACE thanksgiving feast and how they would change the event in either a good or a bad way. 

Lulu, who is a current student at ACE, said “I liked the energy towards our guests. I would change your position from photographer to main photographer. The current photographer for the news times completely violated me by taking a terrible picture.” 

Genesis, who is also a current student at ACE, said, “I would like to change how we communicate so we would know what to do. The food was MAD GOOD including the stuffing which was the best.”

Daniela Esposito, who is a current English teacher at ACE, stated “I love the way it brings the community together and also the alumni to see their old teachers. I also enjoyed the Joe Pepin ceremony which was a great idea to kickstart the event.” 

Can’t wait to see what ACE has in store for next year’s Thanksgiving!!