With Remembrance Day approaching, students in schools across Rocky View County assembled in their gymnasiums on Nov. 9 to pay their respects to those who fought and died for their country.
At Sarah Thompson School, a kindergarten to grade 5 school in Langdon, around 300 students, faculty, and parents gathered on Nov. 9 for the school’s Remembrance Day assembly. Classes performed poems and sang a song, a tribute video for Canadian servicemen and women played on an overhead projector, and those in attendance heard stories of a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 10.
“I’m very proud of our kids and their behaviour,” said kindergarten teacher Pam Goll. “I think they understood the seriousness of the ceremony that we held today.” Goll helped to organize the Remembrance Day assembly and was largely responsible for its running.
Two grade 5 students served as the assembly’s emcees. After a moment of silence and the introduction of the Colour Party, a kindergarten class read the poem “My Little Poppy.” A grade 4 class took the stage made up at the front of the gym and performed a rendition of the famous poem by John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields.”
Retired Canadian serviceman Dave Haines, a member of the Strathmore Legion, talked to the students about the importance of remembrance and sacrifice, then took questions about his time in the Canadian Navy. “None of us want to have to fight,” said Haines. “But we have to be ready to protect. That’s why peace is so much more preferable.”
Haines took questions from the audience and dozens of hands shot up into the air. Most of the students asked about the items that were displayed on a table at the front of the gym–a helmet from the First World War, a photo of a battalion of soldiers from the Second World War, and a photo of Goll’s grandmother who also served in the Second World War.
A grade 5 class finished off the assembly by singing “I Wish for Peace.” After another moment of silence was held, the Colour Party marched out of the gym.
Most children that attend school sit through Remembrance Day assemblies every year; however, with the younger the students, the chances of them not entirely understanding the importance of such a day or moment of silence increases. That was not the case with the crowd at Sarah Thompson.
“I think it’s important that we celebrate those that gave us our peace and freedom,” said Goll. “I think it’s important for our kids, no matter how young they are, to know why we have peace and freedom, and I hope that never goes away.”
