Students honor local veterans
<p>Wiley Scribner hands out poppy flower pins to veterans during the honorary lunch at Plains School last week.</p>
PLAINS – A group of Plains students took time to honor veterans at Plains School last week, hosting a lunch for service members on Tuesday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day.
The Veterans Day event featured lunch and dessert, which the students helped to prepare and served to veterans and other guests during the ceremony.
The idea for an event in honor of local vets was not one that came from the teachers or administration of the Plains school.
Rather it was the kid’s idea to put on the event in honor of members of the Sanders County community who had served their country in the nation’s armed forces.
Students in Keith Baker’s seventh grade history class approached the teacher about the possibility of doing something to honor the veteran’s service on the national holiday.
The luncheon was held in Linda Knight’s consumer education room, where the cooking equipment usually reserved for in class assignments were utilized to prep meals for the veterans and their families in attendance.
Throughout the luncheon groups of students hurried between the kitchen and the dining area ensuring the food was ready for the guests of Plains school.
Other students circulated throughout the classroom ensuring each table was provided with an adequate number of refreshments.
As the ceremony wound down students from Mr. Bakers class went table to table handing out poppy flower pins, for the veterans to wear.
Before the ceremony closed Superintendent of the Plains School District Thom Chisholm spoke conveying his appreciation toward the students who planned the event and the veterans in attendance.
“It’s great a group of 12 year olds remember it’s important to do something on this day,” Chisholm said.
Before closing out his remarks Chisholm took a few minutes to honor the veterans in attendance by starting with the oldest veteran’s in attendance and running up through the years to the youngest men and women who had spent time in service of the nation’s military.
A couple of World War II veterans attended the luncheon, as did veterans of many of the wars the United States has been a part of including the Korean, Vietnam and more recent wars, including those fought in Latin America and in the Middle East.
With representatives from all of these wars in attendance, multiple generations of military servicemen and women were on hand for the Veterans Day event.
The luncheon was well attended with around 32 veterans and their families in attendance for the honorary event.