Eighth grade students were born almost a decade after the September 11th terror attacks, but they vow to never forget the heroes and victims from that tragic day.
On Monday, Mr. Baker’s Global Perspectives students placed 2,977 flags in the ground at Buffalo Creek Middle School to commemorate all who perished in 2001.
They also invited first responders to their school for an event to mark the “National Day of Service and Remembrance.”
VFW members, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, sheriff’s deputies, school resource officers and others, slowly streamed inside the school as Principal Brad Scarbrough and students quietly waited to shake their hands.
Music teacher, Malissa Baker, led choral students onto a tapered riser as they held a copy of sheet music for their special performance of ‘We Honor You’.
The touching song is a salute to those who serve – and today’s version was modified with lyrics to include “Manatee County” with permission from the musical composer, Roger Emerson.
Next, two student speakers were introduced by Mr. Baker to welcome and thank a couple dozen special guests.
Students grabbed gift bags from the tables and handed them out to the first responders.
You could see by the smiles on their faces, the hand drawn ‘thank you’ cards were especially appreciated.
“They’re sacrificing their own lives for people they don’t know,” said Mylee G., an 8th grader. “I think that’s really brave of them to save other people’s lives, and that’s very cool.”
Buffalo Creek Middle School's Global Perspectives is an elective class and part of the Cambridge program. It encourages teamwork with an emphasis on critical thinking about a range of global issues, where there is always more than one point of view.