School’s Veterans Day salute brings home what allegiance means

Youngsters at Eisenhut Elementary pledge allegiance to the flag every day. This Veterans Day, they learned why.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America – but what does that mean?” retired teacher Ron Harris asked kids at the north Modesto school Thursday as he launched into the history of Veterans Day. “It’s a pledge to the ideals of our forefathers” that soldiers over the centuries have fought and died to uphold, he explained.

The school choir performed before a bank of parents who held phone cameras high. An honor guard of veterans from American Legion Post 74 marched in the colors. The Elks Lodge 1282 distributed flags. The audience sang along to “This Land is Your Land,” “America the Beautiful” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

“This is a great experience for them, to get to know the songs and the patriotism,” said teacher Stacy Jensen. School days packed with lessons do not devote enough time to patriotic songs and customs past generations all recognized instantly, she said; “I had tears in my eyes.”

“They get a real sense of patriotism. You can tell in their little faces they really feel it,” said honor guard member and Navy veteran Frank Machado.

Beside him, Air Force veteran Vince Araiza agreed. “I think it gives them a sense of community. They belong to something big,” he said.

Something big was what Principal Trish Anderson and second-grade teacher Shelli Montilla had in mind. The event became a rallying point for teachers struggling to cover English lessons in new textbooks chosen by the Stanislaus Union School District that wrap social studies into reading and writing assignments.

“The first unit is government. Kids were melting down. It was too hard for them – they had no experience in this at all,” Anderson said. “Teachers were telling me, ‘It’s torture! What can we do?’ ”

The new, Common Core-aligned materials demanded a lot more of kids, she said, but instead of throwing in the towel, teachers brainstormed ways to bridge the gap.

Montilla had the idea of tying Veterans Day, and the patriotic songs and symbols of her youth, to the government lessons, Anderson said. “Kids can remember a rap song,” she added, but the branches of government – not so much.

“They just didn’t have the background,” she said.

Harris, who taught at Eisenhut for 18 years, helped with that. He wound bits of the Constitution, the national anthem and key armed conflicts of the last century through his history lesson.

“So when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we’re saying, ‘Thank you, for all that you’ve done for our country,’ ” Harris told the children. Veterans Day, first known as Armistice Day, marked the end of World War I on Nov. 11, 1919, but commemorates veterans of all wars, he explained.

“It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech,” Harris said. “It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to protest. It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.”

Schools are out Friday for Veterans Day, and many observed the holiday Thursday with special events. Cunningham Elementary in Turlock honored 18 veterans and heard a speech by Turlock Mayor Gary Soiseth.

Among Modesto City Schools events, Lakewood Elementary had student performances from every grade, with kids reciting the preamble to the Constitution, singing the national anthem and honoring local veterans. Marshall Elementary hosted the Ceres Veterans of Foreign Wars for an assembly at the flagpole in front of the school that included remarks by the VFW commander and patriotic songs sung by the Marshall Chorus.

At La Loma Junior High, it was GI Go Jeans for Troops Day, with students and staff asked to wear jeans and donate $5 each in support of members of the military. At Beyer High, a ceremony in the Little Theater included a flag ceremony and recognition of veterans, a speaker, patriotic songs and a Veterans Day poem.

This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 6:05 PM with the headline "School’s Veterans Day salute brings home what allegiance means."