On Thursday, November 10, Woodlands Elementary School held a special assembly to commemorate Veterans Day.
In addition to students, faculty, staff, families, and friends, the assembly was attended by at least 25 veterans and active duty military personnel. Mrs. Kurtz’ first grade class led the assembly with the flag salutes and the school creed.
SFC Ty Burns was the guest speaker for the event. Burns is an active member of the Army National Guard as well as a history teacher and coach at East Middle School. He gave a heart-felt, stirring talk about what it means to be an American, serve in the military, and be a leader of any kind.
In the Army, they use an abbreviated acronym to define leadership, L.D.R.S.H.I.P. (Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless service, Honor, Integrity, Personal courage). Woodlands parent Tim Seidel described Sgt. Burns’ address like this: “Sergeant Burns went on to define what each one of these words mean to him personally and his message provided great content to not just the students, but everyone in the assembly.”
In addition, music teacher Beth Casey sang Woodlands’ patriotic song of the month, America the Beautiful, and a group of fifteen students sang a stirring rendition of God Bless the U.S.A. that had the entire audience on their feet by the end.
Woodlands is proud to honor all United States veterans as well as those serving in active duty.
