Remembrance Day at HWSS 2020

Remembrance Day is a national ceremony that is celebrated by most of the Canadians to honour the Canadian soldiers who died during war. These soldiers saved a lot of lives and paved a road for Canadians to live a happy and life. It is because of them that allowed Canada to gain its independent identity among the other nations. This ceremony is celebrated on Nov 11 each year. The two most significant wars in the Canadian history are the second battle of Ypres and the Somme that both happened during World War 1. The Somme was one of the bloodiest battles during WW1 which resulted in approximately 24,000 Canadian casualties according to veterans.gc.

In HWSS, we used to celebrate Remembrance Day by having a huge assembly in the gym, and we would have special guests, veterans giving speeches and the band, choir singing and playing songs. We would also have photographers taking photos of this memorable day. We would take time to honour the family members of the students who served in the military.

For this year unfortunately, we couldn’t have that big assembly due to COVID-19. This time was different and challenging for us, but we still discovered other means to overcome obstacles. So instead of the traditional large gathering, some patriotic staff and students from HWSS compile everything in the original assembly into an amazing video for us to watch.

Every class in the school watched the video on Tue 10. The Video started with the Canadian national anthem that was performed by Sydney Macpherson. Then Natalia Misci read a very interesting poem called “Why Wear A Poppy?” by Donald J.Crawford. After that there was a slideshow of pictures taken by the HWSS 2018 Europe trip to Vimy Ridge. The pictures featured the trenches that were used in the war, the Canadian soldiers’ graves, and the photos of Passchendaele. Some other Canadian memorials that were built for the remembrance of the soldiers who died were also shown too. After the slideshow, Lauren Towriss read a poem called “ Goodbyes” written by herself. Then the video ended with the performance of “Last Post and Reveille” by Lamby Wu. That is not it, Move4Mana also participated in this remarkable day. They gave double points for people who were doing physical activities while wearing a poppy. It is such a fantastic opportunity because one could save double lives in Afghanistan while honouring the people who died during war.

In general, Remembrance Day is a holiday that reminds us of our history. It’s a day where we give names to people who sacrificed during wars. We hope that each and every one of us can take time to honour those who perished in order to give our freedom. It is because that these heroic people used themselves to hugely alter our history so that we must not forget.

Written by Sarah Abdellatif