Episode 272: Blackridge Elementary Veterans Day Tribute a Proud Tradition

It is a time honored and proud tradition for students, teachers, staff, and parents at Blackridge Elementary School.

On this episode of the Supercast, find out why the Veterans Day program is so special at this school and how they updated it this year to honor a rather new branch of the military. We start with a word from two teachers who are the driving forces behind the production, making it a family and community favorite year after year.

Audio Transcription

Regan Stowell:

We do the military, the different military songs, and the veterans actually stand up for that first time. And the kids actually make that connection of like, “Oh my gosh, I’m singing to him or her because they’re the ones in the Air Force.” I really think like that is one of the most powerful pieces.

[Music]

Anthony Godfrey:

Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I’m your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. It is a time-honored and proud tradition for students, teachers, staff, and parents at Blackridge Elementary School.

On this episode of the Supercast, find out why the Veterans Day program is so special at this school and how they updated it this year to honor the newest branch of the military. We start with a word from two teachers who are the driving force behind this production, making it a family and community favorite year after year.

[Music]

We’re here at Blackridge talking with the two teachers who have made this Veterans Day program possible. Introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about your position.

Regan Stowell:

I am Regan Stowell and I teach third grade here at Blackridge.

Joshua Roberts:

I’m Joshua Roberts. I’m the Beverly Taylor Sorensen Music Specialist at Blackridge Elementary.

Anthony Godfrey:

We’re grateful for all of our music specialists, and our dance specialists, all of art specialists across the district, and the support that they provide to make these very important experiences available for students. For those who were not fortunate enough to come, please describe the program and the other things that you did to prepare the school for the program and what you did for the Veterans after. There were decorations, there were things after, gifts for Veterans after, so will you just describe it for those who weren’t able to be here?

Joshua Roberts:

It’s all hands on deck. So we have an arts committee with a representative from each grade level team. We tell them their songs or assignments. I assign them one song to work with their kids. I work on the other and by the time the program comes we’re all teaching all the music. Second grade is a huge help. They are the ones that decorated the gym with all of the pictures of the Veterans and put up the flags. They were also the ones that collected the photos for the slideshow that I put together showing the Veterans at the beginning. Third grade—

Regan Stowell:

–Made thank you cards for the Veterans so that when they left, and Mrs. Barlow had made them their cookies, they also received a thank you card that was handwritten from third-grade students. What else?

Joshua Roberts:

Also, the kids that are in the little costumes for each grade.

Regan Stowell:

Oh yes, the third grade does the military parade. So they’re the ones who come out in the uniforms, and the flags, and the signs when their different military branch is sung, like when the different songs are sung. Kindergarten comes out and does your ‘Grand Old Flag’ with first and second grade and with the flags, which we love.

Joshua Roberts:

And fourth, fifth, and sixth grade volunteer most of the speakers for the program because they’re the ones that can do it. Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:

You’ve been doing this for a very long time–

Regan Stowell:

I have.

Anthony Godfrey:

–as a teacher. Tell me about the time that you’ve spent putting all of this together over the years, where you’ve done it, how long you’ve done it because this program was really an amazing way to honor Veterans and teach students about their country and to instill a sense of patriotism.

Regan Stowell:

In 2005, I was teaching third grade at Herriman Elementary and we were a couple of years into the Iraqi War. We had a lot of parents in our community that had been called up by the Utah National Guard. And I just felt it was really important for the kids to understand the sacrifices that these people in our community were making. So I had started it out as just a third-grade program. It was just something that the third graders did for the school. And I did it that way up until 2018. I did it at Herriman and Jordan Hills, Falcon Ridge, Heartland, Hayden Peak, and then here at Blackridge.

In 2008, Mr. Butler asked me if we could kind of rearrange it so that every grade could be involved, that it wasn’t just a third-grade program, that every grade could also participate in saying thank you to the Veterans, which I was so grateful because I think it makes the whole program much mo…

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