Veterans Day recognition for me started on Friday, November 9th and lasted all the way through Monday, November 12th.
Friday, November 9th, continuing where I left off in the last blog post.
T4 greeted me right at the classroom door when I arrived at school. She put her arm around my shoulder and guided me toward the front on the classroom. Once I was standing in the front of the classroom she walked away. Immediately after T4 walked away four scholars approached me and handed me a binder and said, "Happy Veterans Day Mr. Schultz. The pictures of this event are on the right hand side of the blog. As I started to look through the binder I said to T4, "is it okay if I tell the scholars a story?" T4's response was, "sure." I responded, "thanks and hopefully I will not get to emotional." Before I continue I have to tell you that inside that binder are forty letters that the fourth grade scholars wrote thanking me for my service. Forty, and they were written in their best penmanship, something that I rarely see, with their signature at the bottom of their letter.
As soon as I started my story I was interrupted by this wave of scholars who were quickly moving to the front of the room to get closer to me. With everybody settled down I started again. "Wait Mr. Schultz," and I see an OtherT4-M scholar moving T4's throne chair with the high backrest and a cushion for a seat immediately behind me so I could sit down to tell my story so I stopped again. I'm now seated on T4's throne and I begin again and it goes like this.
Four or five years ago I was in Washington, DC with my wife and we were there to visit the World War II Memorial that was just completed. I wanted to go to this memorial out of respect for my Dad who was a World War II veteran who fought in a famous battle that was called the Battle of the Bulge. After walking through the memorial I told my wife that I was going to go to a souvenir stand that was operated by a group called the Rolling Thunder to see if they would have a pin that I wanted to stick on my Vietnam veterans hat. The pin I was looking for was a shield that signified that I was part of the 23rd Infantry (Americal) Division when I was in Vietnam. The souvenir stand had the shield I was looking for so I bought one for three dollars and, with the help of my wife, I was pinning the shield on to my hat.
Just as I was about to put my hat back on my head I heard a voice behind me say, "there is an America hero over there, go show him some love." With my hat back on my head I turned around to see who was the American hero that someone was talking about. When I turned, standing right in front of me, was a line of either middle school or high school scholars from the state of Washington. One by one the scholars walked up to me and said, "thanks for your service," and a few even shook my hand. With about a half dozen or so of the scholars standing immediately in front of me I said to them, doing my best to check my emotions, "in the past five minutes or so you have thanked me more times for my service that I've heard over the past forty years." As the scholars started moving on to their next destination I turned to look to see where my wife was standing. When I saw her, she walked over to me, handed me her camera, and said to me, "take a look, I got pictures."
My trip to Washington, DC was over forty years ago I was telling my fourth grade scholars when I was interrupted. OtherT4-F (a former scholar you knew as Cue last year) wanted to hand me a box of tissues as she saw how emotional it was for me to tell my Washington, DC story again. I told her that I didn't need the tissue right now but keep the box close in case I might need one later. Prior to continuing my story I looked up at T4 and said to her, "how many years are there between 1971 and 2018?" T4 said, "forty-seven," and I continued my story.
Today, I told the scholars, while holding up the binder so they could all see it, forty-seven years after I left Vietnam, this is the second best thing that has happened to this Vietnam veteran and with my little story told I stood up. OtherT4-F (Cue) was the first to reach me and she handed me that tissue as she recognized that I couldn't check my emotions and I thanked her for doing so. Right behind OtherT4-F was the next wave of scholars all moving towards me to give me the biggest group hug I've ever had.
It's still Friday, OtherT4's scholars arrived in the classroom for their math lesson and things got a little weird. T4 had left the classroom to, I think, rearrange desks in Additional T4's classroom, as again, the alternative seating plan turned out to be nothing but an opportunity for a chat festival for the scholars. The student teacher that has been in T4's classroom, for what seems like an eternity now, was no where in sight. That leaves me and eighteen or so scholars in the classroom by myself so what do I do? I moved to the front of the classroom to teach the math lesson. With two problems completed on the worksheet I looked up and saw T2 standing in the classroom doorway and I knew why she was there. I signaled her to give me a minute and then addressed the class. "T2 and her second grade scholars are right outside our classroom door and her scholars want to say happy Veterans Day to me so please work quietly on the next problem until I return," I said to the scholars.
When I stepped out into the hallway this entire second grade class said to me, "Happy Veterans Day Mr. Schultz." Four or five of T2's cub scout scholars gave me the official cub scout salute and I returned their salute. One of T2's scholars then walked up to me and gave me a tin pan full of brownies that I gladly accepted. Finally, T2 handed me the eighteen hand written thank you letters that these young scholars wrote. With my emotions in check this time I thanked the scholars, got a few hugs, and then gave one final salute for the cub scout scholars.
Moving on to Monday, November 12th, and I was sitting at my half round table in the hallway as the scholars were at one of their specials class. Uh-Uh-Uh was walking toward me as she was rotating to her general education classroom when she walked up to me, handed me a hand written letter and said, "Happy Veterans Day," then continue on her way. My intent was to post a picture of this letter on the blog but the penmanship was difficult to read and it was written in crayon so below, edited for content, is the letter Uh-Uh-Uh wrote to me.
On the front cover of the letter. "You helped our America, thank you," and Uh-Uh-Uh signed her name on the bottom. The letter is now open. "Thank you Mr. Schultz for helping us. I've known you since first grade and you showed me reading and writing isn't as bad as it seemed. I wish everyone had someone like you. Most people hate writing and can't read. I was lucky enough to meet you. I'm lucky to have you here to help my brother (BabyT) learn to read." On the back cover Uh-Uh-Uh drew a bright yellow sun, the sky was shaded in blue, there was green grass growing on the bottom of the page, and a pink flower was growing up from the grass.
Like Uh-Uh-Uh said, we've known each other since she was in the first grade. She is now in the sixth grade and soon onto middle school. I've watched her struggle academically for the four years we shared the same classroom. I watched her as she battled the demons that were in her head that resulted in so many anger eruptions. On Monday she handed me this very touching letter that is forcing me to check my emotions right now as I'm sitting at my kitchen table writing this blog.
There are friends of mine that questioned me about why I would spend so much time at this school as a volunteer and not getting paid. Well, you just read what I wrote about what happened to me over the Veterans Day holiday. Fifty-nine hand written letters, one Kleenex tissue, and a huge group hug as payment is much better than any pay check as these scholars touched my heart. And, as I said numerous times before, "now you know why I keep doing what I do."
Camp OPP, Inc.
Opportunities Present Possibilities
www.oppcamp.org
This past fall and again this spring I will attend summer camp with the young fourth grade scholars that I work with every day. Right now Camp OPP, Inc. is beginning its 2018 Fall Fund Drive to provide the financial means for around fifty scholars to attend these camps at no expense to them. To give you a familiarity with Camp Opp, Inc. I put their website above. I'll also give you the link to their Facebook page for the latest updates and pictures. Please "like" and follow Camp Opp, Inc. at https://www.facebook.com/oppcamp.
Please consider making a donation today. 100% of all funds go directly to support children. Camp OPP, Inc. is a 501(c) and non-profit organization so all gifts are tax-deductible. You can go online at www.oppcamp.org to make your donation. Click on the 2018 Fall Fund Drive tab.
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