Jayda Noyes Daily Herald
“There’s so many people who sacrificed their lives so that we might have freedom. It wasn’t for certain.” – Paige Rolles, grade seven student
Students showed recognition for fallen soldiers on Thursday morning by leading two Remembrance Day services.
École Vickers School presented music by the band and choir, a list of soldiers who were extended family members of the students and a special project.
Grade sevens dedicated an entire day to a field trip for their practical and applied arts (PAA) class.
They went to the cemetery, legion and museum and photographed war monuments before editing their pictures.
Paige Rolles, who was one of the participants, explained one that was done by a classmate.
“At the legion, there was a couple jackets and then there was a uniform and a hat, and then a little information paper at the bottom. He had (taken) a picture of the uniform and there was a poppy on it, so he made it all black and white except for the poppy,” she said.
Many of the photos were compiled into a video and shown at the services.
Rolles said she learns about the tragic history mostly from school, but also from her dad.
“(He) knows a lot about World War II, so I’ll ask him a question and he’ll usually know the answer,” she said.
Rolles explained why Remembrance Day is significant for her.
“There’s so many people who sacrificed their lives so that we might have freedom. It wasn’t for certain,” she said. “They don’t come back the same, like it’s not ‘Okay, I’m gonna go to war and then I’ll be back and I’ll start my life again.’ No, it’s you go there and you see your friends die; you lose family.”
The student-led assemblies made Principal Jennie Green proud.
“We don’t want to glorify war certainly, but we can’t ever forget that anything we have, all the freedoms that we have today as Canadians is because somebody else fought those hard fights for us,” she said.
This is her first year as principal at École Vickers, which has about 600 students from kindergarten to grade eight.
“I think that our younger students maybe don’t fully understand (war), but I think that if it’s something that we hold an importance (to) every single year and for all of their years of schooling, I think that one day it’ll click,” added Green.
Grade fives recited In Flanders Fields while holding up paper poppies.
The choir and band performed O Canada, I Dreamed of Rain, Nightfall in Camp, Stand Together and God Save the Queen.
