Memorials, Meetings, and Ben's V.I.P!!

Today was one extraordinary day of appreciation, learning, remembering, and honoring! It started with our Veteran's Day Memorial in the morning. Students and faculty gathered outside of school and walked to Sunderland Town Hall... to one of the most beautiful spots in town where we remember those who have served our country. After walking the journey, crossing busy streets, and gathering at the Memorial spot, we settled in to soak in this important event! Having our entire school together, along with Mr. Merritt's family was especially poignant! After all, it was Principal Merritt who started this heartfelt tradition of honoring our service members on this special day... Veteran's Day. We started by singing some beautiful patriotic songs... and sounded absolutely amazing! Mr. Hines lead us in song until it was time for speeches, remembering, and honoring our local heroes and those who keep our country safe and free... our Veteran's. This was Mr. B's first Veteran's Day Memorial Event with us, and he lead our celebration as an awesome master of ceremonies! Thanks Mr. B! There was no shortage of important service members who ALL stopped what they usually do on this day, to come to our town, with our school, to this special memorial event! Quite remarkable... indeed, impressive! We observed a very special flag folding ceremony and learned about the importance of "old glory" and how taking care of our flag matters! Of all our Veteran's Day Memorial events, this might have been one of the most memorable ceremonies to date... and I've attended them all. I must say, today was incredible! After the ceremony at our Town Hall we journeyed back to school to visit with the many service members who prepared to join us today, and tell us about their work, the challenges, and why they chose this life, and how hard they work at their jobs! Different branches serve different roles in protecting our country and our freedom, and for that, we are deeply grateful. So here's how lunch went today... a little unorthodox... and we loved it. Our visiting service members not only stayed to have lunch with us... spaghetti, sauce, good ol' green beans and canned peaches.... but even helped serve... LUNCH TODAY! Serving your country.... serving student's lunches... I don't know about you, but I was blown away! All these accomplished service members in uniform, wearing rubber gloves while asking second graders if they want "sauce" with that.... UNBELIEVABLE! So cool... very special. What a great group! We spent the remainder of our day catching up on meetings... Josh had his math meeting. Jenaily had her morning meeting, but in the afternoon... well done Jenaily. And Ben shared his V.I.P! Complete with special family stories, interesting collections, and super cool mementos from his grandfather (who is clearly, an important person in Ben's life)!!! Well done Ben! What a very special day.