Veteran's Day Celebration 2009

The Veteran’s Day Celebration is over. Preparing for this program is always meaningful. It’s a chance for me to help students understand what it means to be patriotic. It also helps some of our students understand what their classmates feel when their Moms and Dads who serve in the military are deployed for long periods of time.

I explained to the students that this performance did not have a lot of decoration and props, but that I hoped that the powerful message reached our audience. It obviously did. I had many of our veterans and active duty military tell me how moving the program was and how much it meant to them that we took the time to honor them. An especially moving part of the celebration was an unexpected presentation of a veteran, the great-grandMOTHER of two of our students. She spoke very briefly, just a few sentences and said how thankful she was that her great-grandchildren went to a school like Bookman.

When I went to the office later that day I had a parent stop me and tell me how moving it was for her. She also let me know, and I’ll quote, “there were grown men crying.” For the last three days, teachers have been stopping me to tell me how moved they were by the songs. One teacher thanked me for “making me a blubbering idiot.” J It certainly wasn’t my intention to make people cry when I chose the songs. I believe it is divine intervention that things work out the way that they do, “and it’s marvelous.”

I’m especially proud of the students. Every note was not in tune. The choreography may not have been precise enough for some people, but they gave it all they had. I’m expecting great things from this group!


The following comments are from emails:
Great job! We really enjoyed the program.

The performance was great, the kids did an excellent job. Thanks for your hard work.
It's was wonderful! You & the kids did a super job!

It was absolutely WONDERFUL! When I commented to my husband in the car on the way home that I was holding back tears during "American Tears" especially given the POWERFUL pictures displayed, he too admitted that he was having a tough time. Great job!!!!

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent. Ms. Sadler you would not believe how touching and beautiful the program was. I sincerely thank you and the children for the honor you all bestowed upon us. It was utterly beautiful. Thank You and God Bless.

It really was WONDERFUL! G*** had an absolute blast!

THANK YOU! IT WAS A GREAT PERFORMANCE AND YOU DID AWESOME BY PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER...THE "AMERICAN TEARS" SONG YES WAS MY FAVORITE SONG BESIDES THE "UNITED" ONE. I CRIED ALMOST THE ENTIRE PERFORMANCE. GREAT JOB AND STUDENTS DID WONDERFUL ALSO.

You may or may not know that September 11th holds a special place to our family. I lost my boss and J** lost several fellow officers that day and we’ve never really been the same since. Last night was a great tribute to those that fight here and off of soil for our protection and freedoms.

It was wonderfully produced and I am personally so happy that I forced myself out of the house. Job well done!!!

I want to "salute" you and the Bookman chorus for another great job. It was very touching and brought tears to my eyes. I had to come back and do a little make-up touch-up on my baby blues (ha! ha!). Rollercoaster cheer to you!!

My grandmother (Josh's greatgrandmother) can't stop raving about the amazing job you did with the kids! And in such a short time!! My parents were equally impressed! You chose great songs, and the words each kid spoke were just as powerful and moving reminder of how great our country is! Thank YOU!

Thank you Ms Sadler!!! Our "hero", Daddy, loved it and we have all been singing American Tears in our home since Tuesday...Kasson, Leah and Nathan sing it together...excellent music and well done!!