This week, in honor of Veterans Day, Page teachers and staff created their own temporary displays honoring the veterans in their lives and giving students a chance to understand what Veterans Day is all about.
Thornapple Kellogg High School social studies teacher Todd McCrumb was the featured veteran for the school-wide event. McCrumb served in the U.S. Air Force and the Army National Guard. He worked in security forces and was stationed during his time in Missouri, Montana and Korea. His job included guarding nuclear weapons and planes with nuclear weapons on them.
His ribbons, honors and photographs were displayed in front of the Page library. From 1990-1996, McCrumb served in the Army National Guard where he trained with special forces for two weeks at a mountain survival school. He also worked at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta on a joint security forces team when the bombing in Centennial Park took place.
Several Page teachers and staff members also brought in their own displays to share with students. From old army clothing to foreign currency, letters and cards sent home, and pictures of their time in the service all became displays where students could witness history and learn what Veterans Day is all about.
One exhibit contained a single jar half-filled with sand. It was labeled - “Omaha Beach, 2014.” While in high school, Mrs. Spees was in the Lakeshore High School Band that was selected to represent Michigan for the 70th D-Day anniversary in Normandy, France. She wrote to several World War II veterans from Michigan to thank them for their services and became pen pals with two of them while she was still in high school.
Sand was also collected from beaches all over Michigan with each band member receiving a vial of sand to pour on the graves of WWII cemeteries. In addition, sand from Omaha Beach, one of the beaches that was part of the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, was given to each student member of the band. She displayed the jar of sand as well as letters from the pen pals she made in high school.
Principal Amy Forman brought in many of her own items to display of her grandfather and great-grandfather who served in World War I and World War II. Her great-grandfather, Charles Lund Sr., was an ambulance driver in World War I and her grandfather Charles Lund II, was an Air Force mechanic.
Throughout the day, classrooms could go through the hallways to look at the many displays and read more about all the people who served.