ST. PAUL – During a Remembrance Day ceremony at Glen Avon School, wreathes created by students and including words to express gratitude to veterans who fought for the freedom all Canadians enjoy today, were on display.
Peter Bednarchuk, with the St. Paul Royal Canadian Legion, was present during the Friday morning ceremony. “This is a beautiful, moving tribute to honour those who sacrificed their lives for the great promise of the future,” he said.
He recalled when he was younger and a student himself. While they too observed Remembrance Day, it was typically just the school announcing two minutes of silence over the PA system.
“That was it.”
Sixty years later, Bednarchuk said he was moved to see the youth offer their honest tribute to veterans. “I looked at the children’s faces and they’re not here because they have to be,” he observed. “They actually are here because they want to be . . . and that means a lot to me.”
Being a veteran himself who served during the Cold War, he said, “When they brought up those wreaths that they made . . . ‘freedom’ was the biggest word.”
To see young children recognize the price of freedom makes him proud.
“Freedom has a huge – unfortunately – horrible cost to it. But to see it being appreciated, respected, and honoured this way . . . I’m proud to be Canadian,” said Bednarchuk.
Kandy Songer, principal at Glen Avon School, said students were excited leading up to the ceremony. They wanted to be involved, she said. “They did a great job volunteering.”
The consensus among the students, according to the principal, was “the more that they can do, the better.”
“I’m just really proud of their contribution to today’s ceremony,” said Songer.
It’s moving when youth realize and understand the sacrifices made by other people in the name of freedom, said Songer.
“That’s the whole idea behind Remembrance Day . . . To never forget that a lot of people sacrificed a great deal for us to live the way we do.