How do you teach children to appreciate the enormous sacrifice and resulting freedom in our country?

At Parkway’s Carman Trails Elementary School, it starts with a tribute bulletin board and soars into a Veterans Day celebration each year. Students and staff invited their very own veterans to be honored at the celebration held this year on November 7, 2011. 

To kick off the celebration, members of the Ambassadors of Harmony from St. Charles sang the National Anthem. The veterans introduced  themselves to the children and explained when and where they served. The children were especially interested to find out how the veterans were related to the Carman Trails community.

All the students, even the kindergartners, performed songs for the veterans. The school chorus and the strings orchestra also presented the veterans with patriotic songs. Students and staff were asked to bring in pictures of their military family, both past and present, for the bulletin board.

Numerous pictures were collected with their names, years and branches of service. Fifth grade teacher, Mike Schultz, created a slide show to patriotic music for the celebration. Schultz himself served in the Navy Reserves from 1993 to 2003. He has a son and daughter both in active duty. He explained to the students the freedom to even have an assembly is thanks to our veterans who served our country. And his thankful and humbled heart not only educated the students, but also honored the veterans. “I thoroughly enjoyed organizing the assembly because it is a way I feel that I can give back to our veterans," Schultz stated.

Picture #1   Four members of Ambassadors of Harmony from St. Charles, including 3 veterans and Carman Trails’ very own music teach Graeme Allen.

Picture #2 Cougar chorus singing God Bless America.

Picture #3 Fifth grade teacher and veteran, Mike Schultz, expresses his heartfelt thanks to the veterans.

Picture #4 Carman Trails grandpa veteran Syd Staton with Parkway’s Superintendent Dr. Keith Marty.