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There is, what has become a long-standing celebration at Jefferson Middle School in Jamestown, where Mrs. Gina Hess, and her class of fifth graders invite area veterans to join them in a brunch-type meal on a day before or after the actual calendar date of Veterans' Day (as schools have the actual day (November 11th) off, ironically when many veterans have to work because it is not a holiday for everyone.)
This celebration has been happening for well more than three decades, and it has turned into a very impactful event for the students, the teachers, and the veterans who accept the invitation to the brunch.
I met Mrs. Hess (the former Regina Peppy) when she was a senior at SUNY Fredonia, when she was pursuing her degree in education with the goal of becoming a teacher. Gina was a student teacher in my class, and it was evident then that she would become (and she still is) a wonderful teacher. After graduating from college, Gina was able to land an assignment at Jefferson Middle School, and after a short while, we found ourselves partnered up teaching sixth graders of what we named our teaching team, Team Challenge. I was very fortunate to have been colleagues in the sixth grade at Jefferson Middle School with Mrs. Hess, and Ruth Kriese, another member of Team Challenge's teaching partnership, where we planned together, worked together, and became very close friends, and that relationship as friends still exists today.
During our planning sessions, we – Gina, Ruth and I – together, tried to come up with better ways to teach that would supplement the textbook curriculum the school provided. I think we all felt that there was more to the education of children that happened within the confines of four walls in a classroom with a chalkboard. I started with the chalkboard, which has evolved into the overhead projectors, then Whiteboards, devices like ELMOs, then Smart Boards, and I think they are up to Genius Boards today, mainly because substitute teachers, which I also did, have to be a genius to operate those. Anyway, understand that Gina didn't spend a lot of time literally shaking the chalk dust off her clothes and hands, and she only got to smell the mimeographed copies of worksheets as a student, and not have to use the machines because she's not that old. Ruthie was kind of in the middle of the mimeograph machine, chalkboards, and film strip and 16mm movie projectors, but I got to experience it all in my time.
Anyway, during one of our planning sessions, and with World Wars I and II as part of our curriculum, we thought inviting some veterans in to, if they felt comfortable, to share some of their experiences as members of any one of the, at that time, five wings of our country's defense. The original events were part of a luncheon, and tables were set up in the school library, to resemble a banquet setting maybe like a restaurant with tables of eight or so, where we assigned seven or so students at a table with one or two veterans, where during the eating part of the program, the students could talk to, question, and listen to, stories from the veterans. The reactions we observed from the students seemed to be one of awe as they listened to what those who served had to tell them.
After lunch, students sang patriotic songs, presented oral readings of Veteran's Day poems, and/or tributes to the flag, before we asked if any of the veterans wanted to share a story or memory with the entire group.
In my experience asking my father about his service in the Navy, I found that he, and many of his veteran friends, didn't share much of their military experience for whatever reason. (Later as we were cleaning out some of his things, we found a journal that Dad kept, summarizing a period of time he was onboard ship, and we found out a little more, about that particular stretch of his military service. In the setting of Jefferson Middle School, many of the veterans got up and shared, with the students and other guests, their experiences under fire in any of the conflicts with which our country participated. I recall one veteran, who spent time as a Prisoner of War, who became pretty emotional in telling his story, as his experience was accompanied by tears running down his cheeks. Gina, Ruth, and I agreed that the invitation of veterans was a better way to teach about the military and the conflicts of our nation because those who served during those times and situations actually lived those events. The three of us, though we read about those times, had relatives who were involved in those situations, but we didn't live those events, like the veterans did, so who would have been the better teachers of this subject matter, us or them? We decided they would be. We weren't wrong. From the looks on the faces of the students and their eagerness to question the veterans and find out more, to the faces of the veterans, who many sometimes wonder if young people appreciate the military of this country and the sacrifices made by our military. It was evident that they found much respect, and appreciation, coming from the students during those luncheons.
I was very lucky to have been a part of those luncheons, and other activities that went beyond the classroom walls, up until my retirement in 2008, and I appreciate being partnered along the way, with two amazing young ladies whom I am grateful and privileged to call my colleagues and friends. I am especially proud of Gina for keeping the luncheon a continued part of the curriculum in her classroom. [She's not old enough to join the "Every Day is a Saturday" (a.k.a. Retirement) Club, like Ruth and me.]
Thanks Gina, and Ruth, for doing so much to make our jobs exciting and engaging for our students, those veterans, and so many others involved in the many activities of Team Challenge, and us too, and thank you to veterans too, all of you who made/make the sacrifice to Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution of our country. God Bless You, and God Bless the United States of America, and to all reading this today and ones you might share this with, if you see someone wearing a military, or a Veteran cap, or see their car stopping with a Veteran's plate or plate cover, give a shout out or a horn toot and thumbs up to say "Thank you" to them for their service and sacrifice.