Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Veteran’s Day took on a different meaning this year for seventh-graders at Presque Isle Middle School thanks to an assembly Friday that included a question-and-answer period with nearly a dozen veterans.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
ALLISON REED, social worker at Presque Isle Middle School, and Officer Kevin Reed of the Presque Isle Police Department, show students the proper way to fold an American flag during a Veteran’s Day ceremony held last Friday at the school.
“I think it’s great that we are doing this today,” said Lisa Dow, science and English teacher at PIMS. “In elementary school, the students all learn about Thanksgiving, Columbus Day and Veteran’s Day, and really in the middle school – when they’re impressionable – we don’t spend that much time with Veteran’s Day.
“By having some veterans here today,” she said, “the kids can see that veterans aren’t just our Grammies and Grampies, they’re also fathers and mothers, and it’s important for this age group to see that.”
Dow said the seventh-grade teaching team decided two weeks prior to hold a Veteran’s Day ceremony. The idea came about after knowing the students were familiar with the book, “America’s White Table,” written by Margot Theis Raven and illustrated by Mike Benny.
“We were familiar with the book and really wanted to incorporate a way where the middle school could celebrate Veteran’s Day,” Dow said, “and it kind of snowballed into, ‘Well, we should really honor our veterans,’ and ‘It would be great if we could have some family members attend, too.’”
English teacher Marianne Dyer read the book aloud to the students, while the book’s pages were shown on a projector screen. Also on the stage were symbolic items depicted in the book including a white table with an empty chair, a rose in a vase, and a plate with a lemon wedge and salt.
In addition to the book being read aloud, the program consisted of a slide presentation set to the song, “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood, and the singing of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”
Houston Putnam’s grandfather, Charles Putnam, who served in World War II, and Kali Warner, whose father, Mike Warner, served in Iraq, were happy the school held such an assembly.
“The ceremony meant a lot to me,” said Putnam. “It was special because my grandfather was one of the veterans who served everybody to give them their freedom. It was nice having him here.”
Warner said it was “really cool” having her Dad there because “he just got back from Iraq where he was serving our country.”
“I think a lot of kids don’t understand Veteran’s Day because they probably don’t have a family member who was overseas, and they can’t quite relate to it,” she said, noting that her father was in Iraq for more than a year. “It was really sad and hard for us to get through it, but we did. We talked to him a lot, so that helped.”
Putnam said it was sad seeing the images of soldiers shown during the slide presentation, but knows that’s how it had to be in order for us to have our freedoms.
“My grandfather sometimes tells me stories from World War II,” he said. “It was interesting, but a difficult time.”
The Veteran’s Day program was also important for students Caleb Hobbs and Katie McKenna.
“I thought it was interesting that we had these veterans come who have been through the wars and had served our country,” said Hobbs. “We read ‘America’s White Table’ last year, and I thought it was really neat how they did that with all the different symbols.
“I think a lot of people don’t really understand what Veteran’s Day is all about, or they just think it’s a day off,” he said. “We really need to recognize the day, and doing things like this ceremony is a way to help.”
McKenna’s father works at the Maine Veteran’s Home in Caribou.
“I have heard a lot of stories from him that his patients have told him, so Veteran’s Day means a little more to me than maybe some other people,” she said. “I feel that we need to recognize our veterans because they did a lot of stuff for us and they deserve it.”
Dow said it was important that the students don’t just think of Veteran’s Day as a day off from school.
“We wanted to honor our veterans and bring it to the forefront of our students’ minds,” she said. “It’s not just a Monday off. It’s mostly important to be able to honor our veterans, and we think this is an appropriate way to do that. It’s so beneficial and educational for these students. The seventh-graders will remember this, and that’s what we want.”
The seventh-grade team hopes to make the Veteran’s Day celebration an annual event.
Among the veterans attending the ceremony were Allison Reed, Kevin Reed, Wayne Selfridge, Lloyd Baker, Charles Putnam, Mike Warner, Wendell Blackstone, James Morgan, Brian Blanchard, Lynwood Monteith, Tom Raineri and Phil Daggett.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
SEVENTH-GRADERS at Presque Isle Middle School participated in a special Veteran’s Day ceremony last week. The event featured the reading of “America’s White Table,” a question-and-answer period featuring local veterans, the singing of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” and a slide presentation. Teachers hope to make the assembly an annual event.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
PRESQUE ISLE MIDDLE SCHOOL seventh-grade teachers, from left, Marianne Dyer, Lisa Dow and Wendi Malenfant read “America’s White Table” to students at a Veteran’s Day assembly held last Friday at the school. The program also included a slide presentation set to the song, “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood, the singing of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” and a question-and-answer period with about a dozen local veterans.
