Dublin Schools Celebrate Veterans Day With Ceremonies

Announcement submitted by Dublin Unified School District:

Dublin Schools will mark the annual Veterans Day holiday with remembrance ceremonies on three of our elementary school sites on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Frederiksen Elementary School will be marking the 10-year anniversary of its Veteran’s Day Assembly, which has become a school community tradition and includes participation from the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) chapter, soldiers from nearby Camp Parks and the entire student body. Because of the size of the school’s multi- purpose room, the ceremony – which begins at 9:30 a.m. - is not open to the public. Honored guests, including parents currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, veterans and local City and school leadership participate by invitation.

Amador Elementary, which opened as Dublin’s seventh elementary school in August, will hold its first Veteran’s Day ceremony in the school multi-purpose room from 1:15-1:45 p.m. Because of space, Amador’s ceremony is also limited to students and invited guests.

Dougherty Elementary is inviting the community to participate in its ceremony, which begins at 8:45 a.m. on the Outside Assembly Area (weather permitting) of the East Dublin site. Students across all grades will sing patriotic songs and will be joined by American Legion post 237 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who will be presenting colors and performing a 21-gun salute. Students will also be creating a “Wall of Honor” that will be displayed during the assembly that will honor veterans from their own families.

Frederiksen’s long-standing ceremony was founded by teachers Catherine Brown and Jamie Perez, who said the ceremony was created from a place of deep respect and desire to recognize those who have served our nation.

“The students have made a deeper connection to what we are doing and who we are honoring,” Perez said. Brown said the ceremony, which features 5th-grade students reading the war poem “In Flanders Fields” and all students wearing “Buddy Poppies”, has had a lasting effect both on students and the veterans who participate.

“We started this as a way to teach the children about Veterans Day. That is all it was. Simple,” Brown said. “At the very end of that first ceremony, we realized the impact this had on the veterans and from that moment on it became a way to acknowledge and recognize their sacrifices and a way to say thank you to them. There were lots of tears in the room (veterans and staff alike) and the event moved, in that instant from being all about teaching students to being a labor of love.”

Photo courtesy Morguefile