- Wentzville School District
- Stories & News
Communications
Page Navigation
WSD Schools Celebrate Veterans Day
Schools in the Wentzville School District held Veterans Day celebrations to salute the brave men and women who are currently serving or who have served in the U.S. armed forces. Boone Trail, Crossroads, Discovery Ridge, Duello, Green Tree, Heritage, Lakeview, Prairie View, Peine Ridge, Stone Creek and Wabash Elementary, as well as Wentzville Middle and Timberland High all invited veterans to their special activities scheduled in honor of the holiday. Veterans were treated to meals, student performances, and slide shows honoring past and present members of the military, along with special guest speakers.
During the celebration at Stone Creek Elementary, students spontaneously chimed in during a slideshow of veterans featuring the song “Hallelujah” written by Leonard Cohen. Following the Peine Ridge celebration, veterans released balloons with messages from students as they have traditionally done for the past decade. Last year, the school heard from two separate veterans who both found the balloons with the messages over 800 miles away in North Carolina.
At Timberland, veterans were visibly emotional as they entered the gymnasium to a standing ovation by over 1,600 teenage students. As the choir sang “Flags of our Fathers,” four theatre students marched in with the Flag and dramatically recreated the raising of the U.S. Flag on Iwo Jima. Senior Carson Smith was one of the speakers who spoke about veterans who lead by example. “(Veterans) do not bother with the accomplishments and actions of themselves, but for the greater good of this country and all who live in it. Veteran is a word we should all speak with a certain level of courage and patriotism that makes us proud to be Americans.”
At Liberty High school, a moving video produced by three students highlighting the school's principal, safety resource officer and custodian - who are all veterans - was shown to all staff and students at the start of school on Friday.
In addition to the celebrations, schools held service projects that included making cards for current service members deployed overseas and collecting items for care packages and the local USO. Schools also organized fundraisers for organizations that serve veterans like the Wounded Warrior Project and Central Missouri Honor Flight.