To commemorate Veterans day, Student Government participated in a ceremony  to retire the American flag during advisory.

Students gathered in the atrium to retire the American flag that had been hanging on the upper campus. Students participated in a ceremony where the flag was taken apart and burned to signify its respect to the deceased. This ceremony is practiced all over the United States to honor Veterans day. 

After an American flag has been in service for several years it is retired. A worn out, old flag is never thrown away, but instead burned in a ceremony. 

“It is a ceremony that brought pride to the people that were involved in it. And it’s a shame that we don’t see much of those types of ceremonies anymore,” social studies faculty Christine Cuesta said. “You know, when I was a kid, there was a lot of patriotism in this country.”

The lack of patriotism in the country is attributed to the newer generations. According to CNN, “38% – of adults said they were “extremely” proud to be Americans, the lowest ever measured by Gallup, which has been asking the question since 2001.” As more adults lose touch with their country, the children of that generation will follow. 

That’s why Cuesta feels this ceremony is so important, “the ceremony shows how we persevere as a nation and by participating iit shows resiliency of the nation.”

To continue the tradition of retiring the flag, the Vice President of the Student Body cut each individual stripe. The flag is cut up and not torn up to pay respect. The stripes are each individually placed on the wood burning fire.

The 50 stars are not cut up and are kept in the blue rectangle to be placed on the fire last. According to usscouts.org, “The reason we do not cut the blue star field is it represents the union of the fifty states and one should never let the union be broken.” The ashes are kept to be buried to keep the memory of the flag alive. 

While the flag was taken apart, student government participants explained the significance to all the students. 

“When participating I felt both proud and felt a sense of pressure because this ceremony is very important to our country and I was able to represent that,” Senior Alessandra Pena said. “During the ceremony, I spoke and introduced what was happening and then helped cut the flag and placed it on the flame.” 

Not only was the ceremony important to Veterans day, but the flag represents everything the veterans fought for. “The thirteen stripes, resting side by side, represented the struggle for independence; red stood for valor, white signified purity and blue represented loyalty,” as stated by the nyassembly.gov.

The flag as a whole represents the freedom of the United States. Each piece of the flag is important to the message that the United States comes together as one, especially on Veterans day.