High School Lincoln/Roosevelt Eisenhower
November 11, 2003, Succasunna, NJ… On November 5, 2003, Roxbury High School recognized veterans who served in the United States Armed Forces in a variety of ways. One method of recognition included veterans serving as guest speakers in classrooms throughout the school day.
One of the returning guest speakers was Rev. William Vanheteren, a member of the Dutch Resistance during WWII and recent recipient of the Dutch Medal of Honor. Rev. Vanheteren is currently having a documentary of his life filmed by the History and Fox channels.
During his visit to Roxbury High School, Rev. Vanheteren spoke with students from Mrs. Barbara Hays’ and Mrs. Stacy Kelly-Kida’s classes. Rev. Vanheteren spoke to the classes regarding his activities in helping prisoners of war escape. He included examples of sabotaging the enemy, saving American and allied pilots who landed in Nazi occupied Holland, and helping Jews and prisoners of war to escape. Rev. Vanheteren also related the experience of meeting General Eisenhower and of being invited to America at that time.
Mrs. Hays commented, “Having Rev. Vanheteren speak about his involvement during the Holocaust is especially relevant to the students of my classes, since we study the book, Night by Elie Wiesel.”
“Rev. Vanheteran emphasized that America is a land of opportunity and as always, he thanked the students and faculty of RHS for the wonderful Veteran's Day Assembly,” stated Mrs. Kelly-Kida.
November
12, 2003, Succasunna, NJ… The
students of Lincoln Roosevelt School joined our nation in recognizing and
remembering veterans who served our country on November 11, 2003.
Mrs. Rachelle Toth, Lincoln Roosevelt teacher, had each student on Team L
interview a veteran about his/her experiences in the Armed Forces.
Each
of the veterans interviewed was then invited to Lincoln Roosevelt School on
Veteran’s Day to share his/her experiences with all the students of Team L.
Six veterans were able to attend.
In
addition to the presentations, which were conducted by the veterans, memorabilia
was displayed for the students to view at the closing of the program.
These memorabilia were either brought in by the veterans in attendance or
sent in by veterans whom could not attend.
According to Mrs. Toth, “I feel this was a very valuable experience for the students. It helped them to become more aware of the sacrifices our fellow Americans have had to endure.”
November 11, 2003, Succasunna, NJ… On Veteran’s Day, Eisenhower Middle School’s Team 7M placed a display of American flags on the front lawn of the school in honor of American veterans.
Each student was asked to select someone that he/she would like to honor on Veteran’s Day. Cards were then filled out identifying each Veteran and branch of service, length of service and one or two interesting facts about the veteran.
Throughout the day, each student on Team 7M gave a brief presentation about their veteran and then placed a flag in the display, which eventually spelled out USA. The students figured out the placement of the flags for the display with the assistance of their math teacher, Mrs. Debbie Baxter. Mr. John DePalma commented, “This is a great thematic unit! It is wonderful seeing the different subject areas work together.”
According to Mrs. Judy Lella, Social Studies teacher at EMS, “This is the first time we have had our students partake in a ceremony such as this. The students were very excited about taking part in the display.” Mr. Doty, EMS English teacher added, “The students exercised their duty and responsibility to our veterans by honoring them in this ceremony.”
As a follow up activity to this, the students wrote essays explaining why Veteran’s Day celebrations are necessary and should continue to grow.