Veterans Day Flag Project Unites Gilles-Sweet Students in Gratitude
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This Veterans Day, students at Gilles-Sweet Elementary School came together to create a powerful tribute to those who served in the U.S. military.
Beginning in late October, students learned about the importance of Veterans Day and those who served by creating a large Veterans Day flag mural. The flag, approximately 64 square feet in size, took about two weeks to complete and was proudly displayed in the building before Veterans Day.
The idea originated when fourth-grade teachers Emily Kenney and Elizabeth Ptaszek-Templeton, and fifth-grade teacher Bridie Chambers, discussed how they could collaborate on a large project to honor veterans.
The stripes of the American flag were composed of red and white paper and featured heartfelt letters of appreciation, poems of gratitude, and artwork honoring veterans, written by 130 Gilles-Sweet fourth and fifth-grade students. The fifth graders were responsible for creating the red stripes, with the fourth-grade students making the white ones.
It was a really meaningful experience, just to see everyone having conversations and seeing it build.
“Students wrote a Veterans Day letter to thank a veteran, and if they had a family member, then they wrote to them,” Chambers explained. “A lot of them had family members that they wanted to write to…I think it’s a really important topic to discuss. We have freedom because people served before us.”
Chambers added that some letters were given to American Legion Post 738 in Fairview Park, which visited the building on Veterans Day. Other students mailed their letters to family members who served.
“Veterans Day is such an important day,” Ben, a fifth-grade student said. “It’s a day to remember those who protected our country and our families.”
“I was able to connect to my friends, like Cole, because I learned that we both had people in our family who were veterans,” John, a fourth-grade student explained.
The Gilles-Sweet Veterans Day American Flag Project: Upper left: One of the red poppy drawings submitted by students in Ptazsek-Templeton's class. Middle left: A poem written by a fifth grade student honoring veterans. Lower left: A student looks at the flag hanging on the wall at Gilles-Sweet. Top middle: The flag covered the wall from floor to ceiling at Gilles-Sweet, flanked on either side by 200 plus stars. Bottom middle: Veterans from American Legion Post 738 had a chance to stop by to view the flag on Veterans Day. Upper right: Some of the stars submitted by the Gilles-Sweet community. Middle right: A letter written by a fourth grade student to a veteran. Bottom right: Students work on assembling the flag in one of the classrooms.
“I really like creating the poems and drawings to show the veterans how much we care,” Maxie, another fourth-grade student, said.
Some of the white stripes of the American flag featured drawings of red poppy flowers created by Ptazsek-Templeton’s class. The red poppy is synonymous with Veterans Day and Remembrance Day, dating back to World War I as a way to honor those who served.
The flag also featured around 200 hand-cut stars, each representing a veteran connected to Gilles-Sweet Elementary.
“The kids were really on board,” Chambers said. “When we emailed the parents, we wanted to get names of people in the military and what branch of service, and Emily made them into stars. The kids were so excited once they saw it. They wanted to find their family member.”
“Just by doing the stars, I learned so much more about the kids,” Kenney added. “Despite sending out a survey at the start of the year, we weren't able to formally identify our military-connected students, but we've since learned that several children have parents who are active military or Veterans.”
“The kids were super excited to share their family history,” Ptazsek-Templeton added. “Even going back to their great-grandfather who served in World War I or an uncle right now who is in the Marines. They were also excited to hear about each other’s history, too. They were making connections that they probably wouldn’t have otherwise.”
The flag proudly hung in the building through the end of the month, when families visiting for parent-teacher conferences could also see it.
“I was so surprised how great the flag came out and looked,” Bradley, a fifth grader, said. “We all got to put our thoughts together to make the day special.”
“This project made me feel good inside, because we got ot show how much they mean to us,” fourth grader Layla said.
“It was a really meaningful experience, just to see everyone having conversations and seeing it build,” Kenney noted. “I know that some of the Kindergarten teachers walked their students upstairs, and they got to see some of their stars. The kids were like, ‘That’s me - that’s my family.’ It was a nice way for us to all connect, and hopefully next year we can get even more - maybe even double our stars - so we can really represent our community here at Gilles-Sweet. ”