North Woods Elementary Students Learn History, Honor Veterans
Wednesday at North Woods Elementary in Plymouth, more than 800 students and faculty gathered into the school gym to honor those who served.
“I don’t think they get enough credit for how much they serve us,” said Eowyn Scullard, a North Woods fifth grader. “Because, like someone said today, freedom does have a very high price, and they’re willing to pay it.”
Scullard was one of the students participating in the school’s Veterans Day assembly, which has been an annual tradition since the North Woods opened in 2019.
More than 800 students and faculty packed into the gym for the Veterans Day event at North Woods.
“We’ve been working since September on this, choir has, so this was our first program” said Deb Godejahn, a music teacher at North Woods. “And for us, it’s probably the most important program we do all year, is to honor the veterans of our families and in our community.”
Veterans from various branches of the military joined the kids in the school gym, as students took turns explaining the significance of Veterans Day and its origins as Armistice Day to commemorate the end of World War I.
“In 1954, a few years after WWII, President Dwight D. Eisenhower changed the name to Veterans Day so we could honor all veterans,” one student read to the crowd during the assembly.
About a dozen veterans were in attendance to receive this recognition. And for U.S. Army Veteran Tom Dykhoff, who served in Vietnam, ceremonies like this mean a lot.
“It humbles me to a degree, you know,” Dykhoff said. “At the time, I just did what I felt was my duty. And to get the recognition, it’s rewarding.”
U.S. Army Veteran Tom Dykhoff addresses the North Woods students during a Veterans Day assembly on Wed., Nov. 8.
The rewarding nature of Wednesday’s assembly was a fact not lost on the students who made the event happen.
“I thought it was really fun that we got to honor all the veterans that could come today,” said Scullard. “Because they really did commit a service and they sacrificed their life to serve us.”
Related: Plymouth Prepares for Drive-Through Veteran’s Day Breakfast
