Veterans Day is on Nov. 11, originally intended to honor those who are serving and have served in the military. The day receives little recognition from the East, with the flags being lowered to half-staff and a field of flags in front of the school.

James Vera is a history teacher at East; he teaches the AP US History classes.

“I feel like it’s important because you don’t really appreciate something because you don’t see the result,” said Vera.

Vera explains from his experience that students rarely feel connected to the holiday because they haven’t lived through a war and haven’t seen their parents or grandparents go off to fight, and come back from the war.

Ryan Metzdorf is a freshman at East. Many students see that the day isn’t a big deal.

“I feel like it’s kind of overshadowed by Memorial Day and Labor Day because we get those days off school,” said Metzdorf.

Veterans and students alike share this sentiment that the day receives little attention because it’s not recognized enough to warrant a day off from school. 

Ongoing construction at East makes planning school-wide activities difficult.

“I feel an assembly would be appropriate, but because of the size of our school and the fact that we don’t have a PAC now, it’s kind of difficult to do that,” said Vera.

With school-wide assemblies being difficult, Vera has tried numerous class activities to get students engaged with the holiday. He has brought in veteran speakers to talk to the students, but found that students were often not engaged, and as the years went on, the veterans got older and were no longer able to participate.

In the past, the teachers have also tried fundraisers for the Wounded Warrior Project, and now they have their Field of Flags fundraiser, in which they place around 200 small American flags, bought through money students fundraise, in front of the school.

The school could look at doing a modified schedule for Veterans Day, where speakers talk to the students about the importance, similar to the days used for surveys, to better honor the veterans.

Written by junior Aiden Pantojas and senior Jacob Taylor. Edited by staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.