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By Jessica Cabeen

Ellis Middle School Principal

If you have attended Ellis Middle School, you know how important Veterans Day is to our school community, with our annual breakfast, assembly, and concert event being a highlight for many staff and students. While we won’t be able to hold our in-person event this year, students at Ellis still participated in numerous activities to honor and remember all our veterans.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, there are about 18 million veterans in the United States.  As a school community, we want our students to remember those who have fought for our country and find ways to recognize these heroes, both local and far away.

While we haven’t been able to return to our in-person program this year, staff and students participated in many different activities throughout the day. Tom Compton, our Social Studies Chair, and Jessica Stanley, our instructional coach, created a Veterans Day playlist for all teachers and students to engage in throughout the day.

During classes, we read the poem “In Flanders Field” and learned about the symbol of the red poppy. We had a chance to watch a video about the History of Veterans Day and engage in trivia around the topic. A highlight for our community included writing “thank-you” letters to veterans and delivering them to the VFW, American Legion, and local nursing homes. Another activity will include taking a virtual trip to a military museum or memorial.

Ellis students also watched our powerful video from last year in which we interviewed local veterans to gain perspective and insights from people we interact with every day.  All these activities will continue to highlight the importance of this day and give us opportunities to have classroom discussions around how we can recognize our Veterans today and every day.

On behalf of the Ellis Community we want to give a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have served our country. We appreciate you and the sacrifices you have given for us.