JACKSON — Students at the Holman Elementary School began their day Nov. 11 with the words from a poem, "Proud of Our Veterans," echoing out of every classroom:
We are proud of our veterans. Proud of you all.
You are patriots and heroes who answered the call.
With courage, strength and sacrifice, you saw our country through.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to you.
"It was a fitting way to begin the day, which was filled with lessons about veterans’ contributions to our lives," Principal Jeanne Pollock said. "Every student visited an Honor Wall that displayed pictures of our students’ family members, friends and neighbors who served our country. It was a great way to honor the day."
The students in Kathleen Lynch’s class created the Honor Wall as a kind of military "museum" to share with the other classes. Even their teacher, who is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, displayed uniforms, photos, and training materials she used in the military.
"The most rewarding part of the experience was that students were able to find out about their own family’s history," Lynch said. "Many hadn’t ever known that some of their relatives had served in one of our country’s branches of service."
Other Jackson schools spent the day honoring veterans in various ways.
At Crawford-Rodriguez Elementary School, students learned about veterans while decked out in red, white and blue, and fifth-graders performed a ceremony at the school’s flagpole.
At the Elms Elementary School, students saluted the flag and sang patriotic songs. Students invited family members or friends in uniform to visit the school, and the fourth-graders learned lessons from visiting members of the local MIA-POW organization.
In addition to a ceremony honoring veterans, every student in the Johnson Elementary School participated in some activity to remember veterans, including drawing a poster or a picture, writing an original story about a veteran or listening to stories of veterans as they were read in class.
At the Rosenauer Elementary School, a morning announcement included a tribute to all veterans, and each class spent part of the day reading and writing stories about veterans and learning the history of why Nov. 11 is called Veterans Day.
The students at the Switlik Elementary School also enjoyed reading, writing and art activities that focused on veterans. As part of that school’s Family Heritage program, students shared stories of family members who have been in the armed forces.
At the Goetz Middle School, students wrote essays, made posters and read poems about veterans, and eighth-grade social studies students kicked off a project for the veterans hospitals that will run through Memorial Day. For the three days following Veterans Day, students read poems about veterans as part of the morning television show and students talked about relatives serving in the military.
McAuliffe Middle School students also recognized Veterans Day in their classrooms, but days earlier they also held a "Run for Vets" fund-raiser that raised $1,580 for area veterans organizations. The fourth annual event gave students a chance not only to honor all veterans, but to offer them some assistance as well.
For students at Jackson Memorial High School, lessons and activities honoring veterans were to continue past Veterans Day.
In addition to lessons and classroom discussions about veterans during the day, the school’s political and legal education class was to host an assembly with Korean War veterans Nov. 24.
"We wanted to make sure that we — as a district — honored this special day in ways that were appropriate and special," Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said. "All veterans deserve our respect and recognition, and it is important to make sure our students learn about the people who fought so hard for the freedoms we all enjoy."