Folding the U.S. Flag at the end of each day has become a special learning opportunity at Grapevine Elementary School, thanks to the school’s custodian Debbie Williams and School Resource Officer Richard Weber.
Each day, two fifth grade students join Williams and Weber when the flag is lowered at the end of school and the students fold the flag, according to the 13-fold procedure, which is commonly used during a military funeral or patriotic ceremonies.
Williams came up with the idea on a Friday after a grandfather, who is a veteran and was picking up his grandchildren, stood in salute as the flag was being lowered and then showed her how to fold the flag. On Monday, she went to SRO Weber, asked if he knew how to fold the flag and if he could show her, which he gladly did. The experience brought back a fond memory of when she was in elementary school since it was tradition for students to help lower the flag. Williams then asked Principal Nancy Hale if it would be possible to involve students to show them how to fold the flag and she said ‘yes.’
“I loved the idea,” Hale said. “I thought it was another way to teach students more about civic duty and responsibility, as well as the meaning of the flag, and it is a great partnership with our SRO and custodian. It shows the meaning of community.”
Each Friday, the students who folded the flag that week teach the students for the upcoming week the folding technique.
Williams, whose son-in-law has been in the Army for 18 years, said that to her the flag symbolizes that “We’re doing something right in this world. I just want to make sure we take pride in doing it.”