Dalton Elementary fifth graders, their teachers and Keshequa High School senior chaperones mixed education with service May 15 as they planted some 90 flowers at veterans’ graves.
There are at least 300 veterans graves in Oakwood Cemetery. About 5,000 deceased are buried there overall.
The project was to honor the veterans by planting the flowers on the graves for Memorial Day, as well as learning about how to grow and plant the flowers, plus how to respect a cemetery and learn that it is a place that is more than just where to bury deceased loved ones.
Nunda Historical Society president Tom Cook told the students that a cemetery is like a storybook anthology. Each stone tells the story of a real person who lived in Nunda.
“As visitors to our storybook, you are paying tribute and remembering the people who are here,” he said.
The group then split into two. While one group planted the flowers, Cook led the other group on a cemetery tour, teaching aspects of Nunda’s history through its tombstones.
After about a half hour, the groups switched roles.
This is the second year that Dalton fifth graders have had the opportunity to participate in this project. Sue Piraino, a Dalton fifth grade teacher along with Erinn Brickwood, Meg Galton, aid Sharon Pedelton and special education teacher Holly Adams, said she hopes this will turn into an annual experience for the fifth grade students.
“I think this is something as a way to get the kids out in the community to know how to treat a cemetery a little bit more,” Piraino said, adding that several years ago, the cemetery was vandalized.
The students planted Four O’Clocks, Forget Me Nots, Pansies and Marigolds. They started raising the flowers around spring break.
Dalton Elementary fifth graders, their teachers and Keshequa High School senior chaperones mixed education with service May 15 as they planted some 90 flowers at veterans’ graves.
There are at least 300 veterans graves in Oakwood Cemetery. About 5,000 deceased are buried there overall.
The project was to honor the veterans by planting the flowers on the graves for Memorial Day, as well as learning about how to grow and plant the flowers, plus how to respect a cemetery and learn that it is a place that is more than just where to bury deceased loved ones.
Nunda Historical Society president Tom Cook told the students that a cemetery is like a storybook anthology. Each stone tells the story of a real person who lived in Nunda.
“As visitors to our storybook, you are paying tribute and remembering the people who are here,” he said.
The group then split into two. While one group planted the flowers, Cook led the other group on a cemetery tour, teaching aspects of Nunda’s history through its tombstones.
After about a half hour, the groups switched roles.
This is the second year that Dalton fifth graders have had the opportunity to participate in this project. Sue Piraino, a Dalton fifth grade teacher along with Erinn Brickwood, Meg Galton, aid Sharon Pedelton and special education teacher Holly Adams, said she hopes this will turn into an annual experience for the fifth grade students.
“I think this is something as a way to get the kids out in the community to know how to treat a cemetery a little bit more,” Piraino said, adding that several years ago, the cemetery was vandalized.
The students planted Four O’Clocks, Forget Me Nots, Pansies and Marigolds. They started raising the flowers around spring break.
