ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
First-grade students from the Aborn Elementary School perform at the Bethany Congregational Church.
By MATT DEMIRS
LYNN — First graders at Aborn Elementary School put on a patriotic show in honor of Memorial Day at the Bethany Congregational Church on Thursday.
Donna Amico and JoAnn Sweeney’s Grade 1 classes dressed in their red, white, and blue and performed the 20th annual show in front of parents and faculty.
Teachers and parents cried tears of joy as they watched the children sing “God Bless the USA.”
Amico enjoys producing the show annually with her classes and Sweeney. She hopes they will remember all they learn for the years to come.
“We want the children to understand why we celebrate the different holidays and traditions throughout the year,” said Amico, who has taught at Aborn for 20 years.
Between singing the classics like “Yankee Doodle” and “This Land is Your Land,” students learned about our country, the national landmark, the flag’s history and the national symbols.
Justin Stackpole, a first grader, said he learned a lot of about his country he didn’t know prior to the show.
“I never knew the first Thanksgiving was in Massachusetts until we started practicing the show,” he said.
Ava Howard, another first grader, said she learned the meaning of the different symbols by practicing the show.
“I now know about things like the bald eagle and the Statue of Liberty which are both some of our country’s symbols for freedom,” Howard said.
Students said not only how fun the show was and how much they learned, but how helpful their teachers were in putting the patriotic show together.
Nicolas Morgan credited his teachers for their hard work.
“They’re really helpful,” he said. “On a scale of 1-10, they are a 5 million.”
Like many other students, Morgan said he enjoyed having the support from his family in the crowd and knowing they were having fun.
“My favorite part of the show was singing ‘God Bless the U.S.A.,’” he said. “It made all the parents happy and it put a smile on my face.”
For Superintendent Dr. Catherine C. Latham, the show was a breather from the stresses of the job.
“If things get tough, it’s always nice to come down here and watch something like this,” she said.
Matt Demirs can be reached at mdemirs@itemlive.com