HANCEVILLE – Hanceville Elementary School presented their “Symbols of Freedom” Veterans Day Program on November 7, 2014. The elementary students sponsored the event and invited everyone to come salute the veterans and thank them for their service.
The symbols of freedom in America presented at the program included the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the American Bald Eagle and the Liberty Bell; each symbol was explained by the student council members with a song to follow the description.
Principal Kim Brown said, “The kids did a lot of work. They’re great. Each year a grade learns a patriotic song, plus the sign language. They’ve been working on that since about September. The kids are all a part of the program, and I think that’s really important.”
Amy Cornelius, the student council sponsor said that the student council has been in charge of the Veterans Day program for the last several years with the help of Principal Brown. She added that the speaking parts were all done by the student council members.
Principal Brown has been in charge of the Veterans Day program for many years. “I do it for the simple reason to honor our veterans. It’s very important, and I want our children to understand what it means to be free and what the symbols of America are,” she said. The overall theme of the program also emphasizes the curriculum the students learn about American symbols and freedom.
Brown really cares for the education of the children. She recollected on what she learned about American symbols while in school, and wanted the students to understand it as well as she did. “We started thinking about things that were iconically American. We talked about the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and the bald eagle. In our eyes, those are American symbols that we wanted to lift up and honor.”
For several years, the final song of the program has been “Letters from Home”. This year, this song was changed to “God Bless America”. Cornelius explained why the final song was changed and said, “It’s always difficult for us with “Letters from Home” because we all get very emotional. We’re all very proud of America and we thought the song “God Bless America” was a better way to end the program this year because it went along with our American symbols theme.”
Principal Brown also commented on the changing of the last song. “We have done “Letters from Home” for at least eight years now. It’s a beautiful song and it touches everyone. It shows Arlington and those that we’ve lost, but when we’re talking about symbols of freedom, we really wanted to tie it into celebrating the freedom that we have and the honor it is to live here in America.”
