Lifelong lessons were learned by students across the country last month, as schools used Veterans Day events to increase awareness about the value of military service and raise donations for the Wounded Warrior Project.
“It is important to recognize our veterans because they have helped preserve the freedoms and liberties we all enjoy today,” explained Kevin Rhein principal at Pioneer Middle School in Plymouth, Michigan.
Rhein said an assembly that brought veterans and the students together allowed the school to reinforce the core democratic values of its social studies curriculum in a meaningful way.
“It allows people who normally don’t get the opportunity to interact with our students the chance to see some of the great work our students are doing.”
Rhein called the response to the assembly from students, teachers parents and the community incredible.
“Since we have been doing this program for over 10 years now, it has become a tradition at our middle school,” he said. “Students enjoy interacting with the veterans and recognizing them for their service.”
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The students were encouraged to interact with the veterans before, during and after the assembly. They were encouraged to complete a Google Form which allowed them to invite a veteran to the school for the day. The day of the assembly, the Life Management class cooked breakfast for the veterans before the event.
The school’s band and choir performed for the vets during the assembly and students also created a thank-you video for the veterans,” said Rhein.
Students who invited a veteran to the assembly got to meet and have their picture taken with their vet at a reception that followed the event.
“The biggest takeaway from our assembly each year is the genuine gratitude that is shared,” said Rhein. “Our students express their gratitude for our veterans service and our veterans are so appreciative of the gratitude the students and staff show them.”
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As part of this event, the school has raised about $2,000 in donations for Wounded Warrior Project’s fundraising initiative called Honor Their Courage.
“Honor their Courage is a program designed to educate students about military culture and what it means to serve, while raising critically needed funds to support the WWP mission,” said Eden Carr, WWW director of fundraising events.
Students at Dubray Middle School in Saint Peters, Missouri used the week before Veterans Day to hold a grade level penny/coins/bills collection competition before school and during all student lunches Monday-Thursday which Assistant Principal Secretary Lisa Waite dubbed "Pennies for Patriots.”
“Each day we quickly count all the money donated by grade level and announce it over our P.A. at the end of the day to get the kids excited to donate so their grade level can take the lead in the penny war,” she said. “We hand out a Wounded Warrior sticker to all who donate regardless of the amount.”
The fundraiser concluded with "Camo for a Cause," where the students were invited to pay $1 or whatever amount they wished. They receive a ribbon handmade by Waite and can wear all the camo clothing they want to school that day.
“This year we had a student come to school in a full Ghuilly suit,” she said. “It was phenomenal.”
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Waite said her personal driving force to bring "Pennies for Patriots" and "Camo for a Cause" to fruition was her father, a combat veteran of the 82nd Airborne, “who could never bring himself to fully deal with how dramatically his tour of duty affected his psyche, his inability to feel any pride for his liberating role as a soldier on the front lines of Operation Power Pack in The Dominican Republic, or the way he lived his life burning the candle at both ends suffering horribly from Survivor's Syndrome; always feeling like he should have died with his brothers.”
Following her father’s death in 2016 at the age of 66, Waite said it became her mission to raise money and awareness about what veterans need to assimilate back into life and society in a healthy, productive fashion.
“I never want another vet to go through what my Dad did, and I never want another kid to go through what I did as the child of a combat veteran who was gravely affected by PTSD,” she said.
This year, Dubray raised $711.58 for WWP. In the five years the school has fundraised for WWP, it has generated over $3,250 for veterans.
“These students are showing their commitment to those who served and are making a difference in their lives supporting WWP’s efforts,” said Carr.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.