Revere High School (RHS) held their annual breakfast and assembly honoring local veterans and remembering those lost during military service.
Veteran’s Day is a national holiday celebrated annually on November 11 and created to honor those who served the United States. The holiday, originally under the name of Armistice Day, began in 1919 after the end of World War I and was later renamed to Veteran’s Day. Various methods of celebration come with Veteran’s Day, including a tradition belonging to Revere High School.
Every year, veteran community members and their families gather on the high school campus to pay respect to veterans with a breakfast planned by the student council and an assembly with a guest speaker.
The student council organized the breakfast. It took place in the high school cafeteria and had numerous decorations made by elementary school students, including large, handmade poppies pasted on the windows, drawings used as placemats, and an American flag colored in by students. The breakfast also included a performance by students from Richfield Elementary, who sang multiple songs for the veterans present.
The assembly, which included numerous presentations, took place directly after the breakfast. Some of the events that took place were first responders presenting the colors, performances by the RHS Choir, Orchestra, Marching Band, a reading by members of the Revere Players in honor of veterans who are Prisoners of War (POW) and Missing in Action (MIA), and finally, a speech.
The event is organized by the social studies department, which includes social studies department head Jeff Fry, who put together the events of the day. HE discussed the origin of the assembly.
“[About] twenty years ago. . . we had a special education teacher named Jack Cooper. He came from Bath [Elementary School] and he did an assembly. . . at Bath and he wanted to do an assembly here. . . . When he came up [to RHS] he organized a Veteran’s Day assembly . . . that looks a lot like what we do now,” he said.
The tradition has continued beyond the years Cooper was around to organize the event.
“When he retired . . . the social studies department. . . . said ‘We’ll do what Mr. Cooper’s role was and divide up a lot of the tasks’,” Fry said.
Though the organization of the Veteran’s Day events are no longer spearheaded by one individual, it has instead become a group effort handled mainly by the social studies department at RHS.
“The social studies department organizes [the event . . . We’re in charge of making sure that it all happens, but there’s a lot of working parts that are included with [it].” Fry said.
Fry also shared the reason he finds the assembly so important, especially for Revere students.
“There are certain things that we can’t teach [students]. One of those is how to honor and respect people that have defended our country,” he said.
Fry described why veterans are honored, and why they should continue to be honored.
“Veterans make it so that most of us don’t have to fight for our country because [they] do it for us. We need to understand that other people make sacrifices for us so that we don’t have to make these sacrifices. That’s what Veteran’s Day is to me. What I hope to impart on our students is that we have a lot of people that do a lot of work behind the scenes to protect us and keep us safe, . . . but they work . . . so that we can live our lives the way we want to,” he said.
The guest speaker, Colonel James C. McClellan, was a veteran who served in the United States’ Air Force. Colonel McClellan gave a speech about veterans and how they relate to the lives of everyday citizens, and why honoring their memory is so vital.
“Veterans represent . . . courage, sacrifice, duty and responsibility. But I assert that these values are applicable to all of us every day.” McClellan said.
McClellan champions that the values of veterans are ones anyone can represent, even students. He states the reason students should take the time out of their days to remember and honor veterans because anyone can understand and appreciate the values veterans dedicate themselves to. He explained how the meaning of courage changed to him through his service.
“Courage is just not about . . . bravery . . . Courage is also about moral strength. The courage to do what is right even when it is difficult or uncomfortable . . . I call this being bold. Being bold is an everyday occurrence—or at least it can be—and it’s well within the average student or citizen’s talents. Examples of being bold are stopping someone from getting injured on the playground, answering the tough question in your history class when no one else will, and stepping up to the challenge of running for a position on the Student Council,” McClellan said.
Finally, his speech informed his audience how to honor veterans.
“The best and most profound way to demonstrate your gratitude is by living in a way that honors their courage, sacrifices, and service. Take advantage of the opportunities that are right in front of you, whether that is your school, your community, or in your relationships. Work hard. Be kind to others. Live with integrity. This is the best way to honor the sacrifices veterans have made on our behalf,” McClellan said.
Army veteran and RHS science teacher Robert Krisch also spoke on the event and what it means to him. Krisch was a combat medic in the Army from 2001-2008 and discussed his view on Veteran’s day.
“Veteran’s Day is a time to remember, a time to reflect and a time to say there’s a lot of people who sacrificed for the way we get to live today,” he said.
Krisch noted how often Americans forget the freedoms they have.
“We have a choice in our politics, we can be part of our government process, we live in a society that is very rich and safe in many ways, and a lot of that is a result of all those who have died and served. . . . It’s a time to . . . not take the things we take for granted for granted,” he said.
