A day of sacrifice, appreciation, and unity

by: Georgia Thoms

As Nov. 11 approaches, so does the school-wide Veterans Day assembly. Appreciation and thankfulness for the sacrifices made by service members is important and this year’s school-wide assembly will also recognize the sacrifices that their families have made as well. From moving, switching schools, separation, and trauma, military families endure quite a bit in the name of the country’s  freedom.
“You can’t grow up with family around you and when you move, you lose connections,” said junior Riley Roe whose father is in the armed forces. She continued to explain that leaving friends and not having a family to grow up with is difficult.
Technology instructional coach Shannon Saglio sympathized, explaining that having a veteran in her family, the stories told brings more value to the freedom that can be taken for granted. It also inspired her to be who she is today.
“The assembly is important because we don’t think about these things often enough.You don’t think about the human touch. It doesn’t really hit us until we hear those personal stories,” said Chemistry teacher Lori Singer.
To project the new theme, every department comes together for the assembly. Culinary teacher Joanna Hildebrand and her students host a breakfast and lunch for the veterans.
Likewise, art teachers have students create projects based on the theme of each year. During the assembly, the music department plays uplifting tunes to raise crowd spirit.
For four years, the school has come together to celebrate this national holiday and the graduating Class of 2018 is the first to have the assembly for all four years of high school.
In addition to the 5K, hosted by the boys’ cross country team, a new aspect of the assembly this year is a media presentation produced by Ms. Saglio. The video includes anecdotes from students and faculty about their experiences being a part of military life.
“We try to demonstrate to kids what we hope they will do after they leave high school [and] students seeing their school modeling how we should treat veterans might lead them to be involved in some way in the next phase of their academic career,” said history teacher and Chairman of the Veterans Day Committee Henry Kydd.
Overall, the assembly allows for students to take a moment in their busy lives to truly appreciate what families go through so that their loved ones can faithfully protect the freedom and liberty of America.