Cataline Elementary School in Williams Lake marked Remembrance Day and Indigenous Veterans Day with an assembly Nov. 10.
Just after 11 a.m. the students, staff and family members gathered inside the school gym.
The ceremony opened with five students who are Girl Guides of Canada and Beavers marching into the gym as local piper Aubrey Jackson played and marched behind them.
“Remembrance Day is a time for people in Canada to recognize and honour veterans and military heroes,” said principal Yvonne Davis as she MCd the event.
There are 324 students in the school, which is the biggest elementary school in the city, and Davis said the school has assemblies every month and teachers sign up to have their students perform.
During the assembly Carolann Dikur’s students did a Remembrance Day tableau where they depicted the four stages of war.
Chris Armstrong’s students recited In Flanders Fields by John McCrae and students taught by Nicole Ulrich, Jen Hansen and Karyn Sache sang a peace song and a Charlotte Diamond song titled Leave The World a Little Better.
The students watched a couple of small videos and also some of them placed wreaths made by students at the front of the gym near a large wooden cross.
It was the first time the assembly had happened in person for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the last few years we made little videos and then streamed them into all of the classrooms,” Davis said, noting it was great to see so many parents and visitors attend.
“It’s so awesome to have Aubrey Jackson here as our piper. He’s amazing. We are just thankful we can celebrate Indigenous Veterans Day as well as Remembrance Day.”
After the students had mostly filed out of the gym, a trio of students from John Kovach’s class stopped and asked Jackson about playing the bagpipes.
Within minutes the whole class was surrounding Jackson and with the teacher’s permission he proceeded to get them marching to some tunes.
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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