Inver Grove Heights Middle School Students Honor Veterans Through Learning

On Friday, sixth grade students at went straight to the source to learn about life during an overseas military deployment. Using Skype, an online voice and video chat program, the students spoke with six deployed soldiers. 

“It’s so applicable to what we’re talking about in the classroom,” said Michael LeMier, a sixth grade history teacher at IGHMS and a veteran himself, who served in both Afghanistan and Kosovo in the Army National Guard.

The Skype sessions took place Friday morning. Each soldier was assigned a different classroom and called in during the school’s second hour class period. While the middel school has held Veterans Day events in the past, this is the first year the school has utilized technology to allow the students to communicate with troops overseas. 

The soldiers, all of whom are Minnesota natives currently deployed in Kuwait, began by introducing themselves and giving a brief overview of their life history. Then, the students engaged the soldiers in a question and answer session. The questions covered a wide range of topics, including culture and customs in Kuwait, military experiences and day-to-day living.

“It’s important, in my viewpoint, for all of us to remember the people that served,” said Barbara Lake, associate principal of IGHMS, whose husband and daughter are both stationed overseas.

In addition to the Skype session, the middle school also paid tribute to America’s veterans by beginning the school day with a ceremony, which the entire student body attended. 

The ceremony included several patriotic gestures. LeMier read the iconic war poem “In Flanders Fields” aloud, an IGHMS student played "Taps" and a group of area boy scouts presented the flag to a local soldier, who then raised it. Following the flag raising, everyone in attendance sang the National Anthem before returning to class.