Programs honoring veterans for service
Veterans Day, Nov. 11, is the day set aside by national proclamation to celebrate and honor America’s veterans for their service to our country. Each year local schools find ways to teach children about veterans and to honor local veterans through programs, activities and lessons.
Although a few area schools held their programs earlier this week, most will be honoring veterans during upcoming Veterans Day assemblies, musical tributes and special projects. It is a time for “all things patriotic,” according to one teacher. Students will wear red, white and blue; bands will play; choirs will sing; poems will be recited; and veterans will be honored.
“We put a lot of energy and effort into letting kids know about the sacrifice of our veterans,” said Ponderosa Elementary School principal, Kathy Baker. Mayor Clay Larkin will be the keynote speaker during the school’s Veterans Day assembly, as he has been for the past few years. Invitations to attend the event have been sent to area nursing homes and veterans organizations, said Baker, who admits “honoring veterans is near and dear to my heart because my father is a retired colonel.”
The program, designed by Ponderosa’s music teacher, will be a tribute to each branch of the military, and those who have served will be asked to stand when their branch is honored. A slide show featuring veterans’ pictures brought to the school by students will be shown, and veterans will be presented with gold-star pins, embellished with a paw print and a flag imprinted on them.
A similar slide show was shown at Spirit Lake Elementary School during their Veterans Day assembly Wednesday. Jeremy Peloquin, who has served two tours in Iraq, and is the son of a teacher, spoke during the assembly that also included songs and poems written in tribute by the school’s third-graders.
Third-grade teacher Kathy Gray says the Veterans Day assembly is popular with area veterans, with 50 to 75 usually in attendance. The school invites area veterans, and students are urged to invite veterans they know as well. “We involve the community and get the families involved,” said Gray, “It is a lot more meaningful if they are ‘their’ veterans.” A reception follows the assembly.
Both Athol and Garwood elementary schools are also asking students to bring the names of family members, neighbors, or other veterans to school for special projects. The two schools will write these names on stars and use the stars to make a huge wall-flag display.
A Veterans Day concert will be performed at Post Falls High School tonight. Highlights will include a performance of “God Bless the USA” by the band’s wind ensemble, featuring choir director John Kracht, and “Portrait of Freedom,” a piece written right after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Student leaders at Post Falls Middle School have invited a group of veterans to lunch, and then will escort them to an assembly where a short biography will be read for each of them. The school’s choir and band will perform patriotic songs in tribute to the veterans, and, as he has the past several years, one of the veterans will play the bagpipes in celebration of the day.
Veterans Day is a good time for each of us to be reminded of the history of the holiday, and the sacrifice and dedication of our veterans. Take the time to attend one of these school Veterans Day assemblies for a blast of patriotic inspiration, or find a way to thank the veterans in your life. Many patriotic cards are available wherever cards are sold, and free e-mail postcards can be sent for Veterans Day, or any occasion at www.military.com/ecards.