King City Secondary School remembers
By Jessica Rose KCSS student

Taylor Jackson, president of the KCSS student council, thanked Sergeant Anthony Jones after he addressed Friday's Remembrance Day service.

Staff and students at King City Secondary School held their annual Remembrance Day assembly Friday.

Recognizing the efforts of the brave Canadians who fought valiantly to defend our country during wars past, the student body prepared a series of performances that captured the essence of the day. The theme of this year's assembly, Supporting Our Troops, was highlighted by Sergeant Anthony Jones, who spoke about the modern hardships and terrors of war in the 21st century.

Jones is an infantry sergeant, now working as an area cadet advisor for the Army Cadet program. Previously, he served overseas with the Canadian Forces in Kosovo for six months and in Afghanistan for seven months.

During the assembly, Jones spoke of working to implement positive change within the school systems in these areas. He illustrated the drastically different level of freedom those in Afghanistan are entitled to, as opposed to Canadians here at home. One particular way Sergeant Jones and his team of dedicated soldiers implemented positive change, was by introducing kites and soccer balls into the community (among other things), to promote a sense of freedom and fun for the young kids. He later received a bouquet of flowers presented by Taylor Jackson, student council president, on behalf of the school's appreciation of his inspirational presence.

Students Jessica Rose and Maggie Hall were Masters of Ceremonies for the morning assembly, organizing not only the sequence of the various performances, but also helping to write the script for the day. Staff members Paul Bentley and Jamie Georganas played significant roles in successfully organizing the overall assembly, along with the support of the history department.

Both teachers and students at the school put forth their best effort to respectfully commemorate Remembrance Day. Memorable performances of the day included Elspeth Read's Grade 11 drama class performing a wellrehearsed play regarding the various perspectives of war; Teresa Chan's Grade 9 visual arts class, who worked hard to illustrate their personal interpretations of Remembrance Day through their paintings; Alex Borzi's Grade 9 French students, who recited the poem In Flanders Fields in French; and the King City Concert Band (conducted by Tom Walker), who played a Remembrance Day inspired composition to the theme of Danny Boy, entitled Air from County Derry, arranged by Joseph Kreines.

However, these departments were not the only ones to get creatively inspired by the occasion. Students Teish Payne and Victor Swift took initiative and collaborated musically to perform an original composition; written and sung by Teish, with guitar and vocal accompaniment from Victor. The poem focused on one woman's struggle of losing her husband in war. The assembly was appropriately closed with the Last Post, performed by student Josh Patenaude.

On the whole, the assembly was quite successful in conveying its theme and elaborating upon the concept of war and the importance of peace during our time. The student body understood the importance of commemorating the brave soldiers and veterans who fought, and still fight, to defend our rights, safety, and freedom.