Care packages and cardstock turkeys: first and second ladies visit Marines and their relatives

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. (AP) — Melania Trump and Usha Vance on Wednesday marked the Thanksgiving season by visiting with Marine Corps members in North Carolina and saluting the sacrifices of military families, who make up “the quiet strength of our nation,” the first lady said.

The wives of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance used their first trip together outside of Washington to visit with students attending school at Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast, and deliver upbeat remarks to some 1,600 uniformed, cheering Marines and their families at Marine Corps Air Station New River.

“Please know that our nation is thinking of you, praying for you and deeply grateful for your service,” Trump said of all service members stationed far from home during the holidays, speaking from a stage flanked by parked tanks and helicopters.

Trump also stressed the growing importance of artificial intelligence to the military, noting that “technology is changing the art of war.”

“Predictably, AI will alter war more profoundly than any technology since nuclear weapons,” she said, also noting that “we are moving from human operators to human overseers fast.”

Trump and Vance both recognized the just-passed 250th anniversary of the Marines, and the second lady said “military families are truly a model for our country and for my own family." The vice president is a former Marine.

Brigadier General Ralph J. Rizzo Jr. said visits by dignitaries like the first and second lady "matter because they show our families their service and sacrifices are seen and appreciated."

Trump and Vance's speeches followed school visits where they discussed AI with high schoolers and helped younger children with crafts, including making turkeys from cardstock and Elmer’s glue.

They listened to a presentation by students in an advanced placement research class from the Lejeune High School “Devilpups,” recalling the Marine Corps’ “Devil Dog” nickname, and had discussions about technological development.

Four female students demonstrated how they used AI to generate videos for their research into how electronic media affects sleep and adolescent wellbeing, as well as a study on social media addiction and how it affects young people's esteem and body image.

Trump and Vance later walked to the gymnasium, where students had assembled 2,000 care packages of goodies, including jerky sticks, for service members away from home. The first lady told the crowd that she and the president always think of U.S. service members but “especially during the holidays.”

They also spent time with kindergarteners and first-grade students at DeLalio Elementary School, entering classrooms where each table had been laid with folders from Be Best, Trump’s child-focused initiative. The folders held a puzzle, pen and sticker for each student, along with a bookmark from the second lady.

Trump told one girl in pigtails that she was “beautiful.” The patriotic ribbon pinned to the girl's light blue top meant one of her parents is on active deployment. Several of her classmates also sported the ribbon, as did many in the larger group of students making cardstock turkeys.

Trump also engaged in a lengthy conversation with a first-grade girl before offering: “Very nice. I love your story.”

Trump and Vance have appeared together at other public events, though not on the road. Most notably, they were together at the inauguration of their husbands at the U.S. Capitol in January.

Other joint appearances came at a White House event celebrating military mothers and a luncheon for Senate spouses, both in May; the opening night of “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center in June; and the president's signing last week of an executive order to help foster children, which also came as part of Be Best.

Melania Trump has centered her work around children, launching Be Best during her husband's first term to focus on their welfare, online safety and opioid abuse.

Last month, she announced that eight children displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war had been reunited with their families following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier this year, the first lady lobbied Congress to pass legislation imposing federal penalties for online sexual exploitation, often targeting young girls. The president signed the bill into law in May.

Usha Vance, a former lawyer, launched a “Summer Reading Challenge” to encourage students in kindergarten through eighth grade to read 12 books during the school break. Certificates and prizes were promised to those who completed the challenge.

The second lady often accompanies the vice president on his trips and sometimes brings along their three young children.

Second lady Usha Vance arrives to speak in the Mega Hangar at the Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

First lady Melania Trump meets with students at DeLalio Elementary School on the Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Second lady Usha Vance meets with students at DeLalio Elementary School on the Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

First lady Melania Trump meets with students at DeLalio Elementary School on the Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

First lady Melania Trump accompanied by second lady Usha Vance speaks to students at Lejeune High School in Jacksonville, N.C., Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

First lady Melania Trump, center, accompanied by second lady Usha Vance waves after arriving at Arrive Albert J Ellis Airport in Richlands, N.C., en route to Camp Lejeune, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

First lady Melania Trump, right, and second lady Usha Vance arrive at Arrive Albert J Ellis Airport in Richlands, N.C., en route to Camp Lejeune, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

First lady Melania Trump, right, and second lady Usha Vance arrive at Arrive Albert J Ellis Airport in Richlands, N.C., en route to Camp Lejeune, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend a dinner with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Police on Saturday said they detained 76 people across Poland and checked nearly 50,000 schools nationwide as part of efforts to prevent further violence following two school attacks earlier in the week.

On Friday, schools across Poland stepped up security, with some suspending classes, many parents keeping children at home and police patrols deployed to educational institutions after two attacks at schools earlier in the week left one person dead and several others wounded, including children.

On Wednesday, a 19-year-old student at a vocational school in the Mazovian province in central Poland attacked fellow students, teachers and passersby with a sharp object, injuring nine people before fleeing and being arrested nearby. The following day, a 15-year-old killed a school custodian and wounded two others in a knife attack at his former school in the same province.

The assaults, both carried out by Polish nationals, shocked a country where school violence by minors is a new phenomenon.

By Thursday night, rumours that the attacks were coordinated and that there would be more on the culmination day dubbed “bloody Friday” were being shared in parents' online groups and by mainstream media.

59 schools preemptively suspended classes on Friday across Poland, the majority in the Mazovian district, where the capital Warsaw is located. School directors sent messages announcing stepped-up security measures including extra school staff placed at entrances and voluntary backpack checks.

“There will ⁠be no compromise here. The safety of the youth is the most important thing,” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said.

Those detained on Friday include a 14-year-old boy from a central district of Warsaw who was found in possession of a knife with a concealed blade and 11 firecrackers, and a 16-year old from another Warsaw district who came to school with a butterfly knife in his backpack. Others had posted online photos of knives, threatened their peers or threatened school attacks.

So far, the government said, it had found no evidence that an internet challenge promoting school attacks was ongoing. There is also no official confirmation that the two attacks were linked; both perpetrators are in custody.

Parents across Poland are now having to catch up fast on how to speak to their kids about school violence. Authorities say extra security measures at schools will continue and crisis training will be organized. The liberal government also promised to renew efforts to pass a bill blocking harmful online content.

“If that juvenile attacker had streamed the crime online today, we would have been unable to block that content because we have not been given that legal tool,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

After wounding three adults in Thursday’s attack, the 15-year-old, who wore a camera to record his actions, was eventually overpowered by school director Krzysztof Ochmański. Ochmański later told reporters there was a moment when the boy seemed to realise the enormity of his actions and said he did not want to do this any more.

“Once I had established contact, he asked me for help,” Ochmański recounted. “It got to the point where he wanted a hug.”

A volunteer firefighter stands near the scene following an attack on the Vocational School Complex No. 4 in Ostroleka, Poland, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafal Niedzielski)

A police officer and a volunteer firefighter look down the street near a cordoned-off area following an attack on the Vocational School Complex No. 4 in Ostroleka, Poland, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafal Niedzielski)