Editorial: Giving thanks to our veterans

• Riders

Laura Grevas/Daily Globe ABOVE: Members of the Patriot Guard Riders hold flags Friday morning in anticipation of the passing of Army National Guard soldiers from 1st Battalion, 151st Field Artillery, who have just returned from a year in Iraq.

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Today is Veterans Day, and communities throughout the Daily Globe’s coverage area will be honoring those who served our country in an array of programs.

Worthington alone has plenty of Veterans Day-related events scheduled. The fact that the community’s primary learning institutions have coordinated each of them is particularly noteworthy, we feel, as these programs teach — and reinforce — the important notion of remembering those who gave of themselves for our freedom.

Both Worthington High School and Prairie Elementary, as they have in recent years, will host Veterans Day events today. A Veterans Day breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m. at Prairie, with a program slated to start at 7:45 a.m. The high school, meanwhile, will have an observance from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. today; included will be performances of students involved in the school’s fine music choral and band programs.

Worthington’s middle school, meanwhile, is hosting a series of Veterans Day ceremonies today at Freedom Shore Veterans’ Memorial Park. Seventh-grade students will read letters and poems they’ve written about veterans and their service to the country; wreaths will also be placed and “Taps” played. This seems like a great way of tying in the education of students with recognizing people who are so important to all of us. Times for the 30-minute ceremonies are 10:05 and 11:05 a.m. and 12:35 and 1:25 p.m.

Other Worthington programs will be taking place today at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, which will feature recent Honor Flight participants as speakers in an event starting at 10 a.m., and at St. Mary’s School, which has its own event for veterans at 4 p.m.

We are grateful for our community’s educators for leading these efforts to recognize veterans — as well as to, of course — the veterans themselves.

Tags: opinion, editorials, veterans