NORTH ROBINSON–On Monday morning, much like many people and places around the country, the Colonel Crawford Local Schools held a special event in remembrance of the anniversary of the deadliest attack on American soil.
Being the only school selected in Ohio, the school district received a kit from the Freedom Foundation to raise the Freedom Flag. The kit included the flag, a piece of metal from Tower 1, and resources explaining how the flag came about and what the flag represents.
According to the Freedom Foundation’s official website:
On the evening of September 20, 2001, Richard Melito sat in his restaurant in Richmond, Virginia and sketched a symbol commemorating the events which occurred nine days earlier. His intention was to create a symbol for display on the wall within his establishment that would always remind his patrons of the tragedy and triumph of September 11, 2001. Sixteen months later the Freedom Flag became a part of Virginia history when it was designated by Executive Order the state’s official symbol of remembrance honoring the victims and heroes of 9/11 by then Governor Mark Warner. Raising the Freedom Flag has become part of the traditional Patriot Day observation in schools throughout the Commonwealth. The Freedom Flag Project calls for schools to formalize an annual tradition of raising and flying the Freedom Flag below the American Flag on September 11th, creating a unique reminder to current and future generations of the victims, heroes, and survivors of that day.
Through a feature in a Scholastic News article, teachers found out about the foundation and decided this was a good idea for the district.
“Last Year, teachers, myself, Scott Tinnermeier, and Joy EtterLink were using an article from the Scholastic News which talked about the Freedom Flag and mentioned how we could apply to receive a kit for this school year. Neither one of us had heard about the flag until then and asked the students if we should apply. We had to write how we would use the kit and tell our plans for raising the Freedom Flag,” Tinnermeier said. “We used the metal artifact for last year’s fourth graders to write how that metal represents America. Some students were chosen and then they read them at a ceremony we put on before raising the flag. This year’s fourth graders read a story of how the flag came about and then learned about the different symbols on the flag. Certain students shared the story and told the rest of the elementary students what each of the symbols represented.”
Also for the ceremony, elementary music teacher Angie Wise chose two patriotic songs for this year’s fourth and fifth graders to sing two songs at the ceremony.
After this was over, the whole school walked out to the flag pole to watch the raising of the American and Freedom Flags and hold a moment of silence.
Aside from Colonel Crawford students and staff, representatives for the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department, Ohio State Patrol, Jefferson Fire Department, and Representative Riordan McClain attended the ceremony.
The Freedom Flag will be raised every year on September 11.
