Across the Ozark School District, the buildings were full of red, white and blue as students and teachers commemorated Patriot Day on Sept. 10.
With this year being the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, students were encouraged to wear red, white and blue attire and engaged in an array of Patriot Day themed activities.
At the elementary level, a few books and creative activities helped students understand the importance of Patriot Day and the heroes who are associated with it.
East Elementary fourth graders read “The Man in the Red Bandanna” by Honor Crowther Fagan. The book tells the story of Welles Crowther and how he became a hero on Sept. 11, 2001, when he helped people exit the World Trade Center South Tower.
Students then talked about character traits of a hero — brave, generous and kind were a few mentioned — before being given this writing prompt, "I think a hero is…"
The students made their own red bandannas describing heroes, which will hang in the hallway at East.
North Elementary second graders spent the day learning about New York City, first responders and heroes as they read books about Sept. 11, 2001, including "Fireboat" as well as “The Man in the Red Bandanna.” Students discussed the characteristics of heroes, wrote letters to first responders and even made a NYC skyline. Students who completed good deed papers also received a red bandanna for "doing good without expecting reward."
At Ozark High School, students took part in interactive projects throughout their classes, including an exercise that honored the heroic efforts made on that day.
The current affairs class climbed 110 flights of stairs together as a class. Each student climbed six flights while wearing a backpack to remember and honor the firefighters and first responders, police officers and port authority officers who were lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
Even students in the interior design class were tasked with a Sept. 11 tribute related to the architecture and symbolism of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The class was divided into teams to work on a shared project. Each team had a specific prompt or criteria they researched. The finished slides were shared with the class and described by each creator.
Members of the Ozark JROTC team took part in the “We Remember” ceremony at Big Cedar Lodge on Sept. 11. The 2021 National Champion Ozark Mountain Guard drill team performed during the event, which also featured ninth-grader Asa Wells playing “Taps” on the bugle.
