I could hear the chatter of all the excited kids as I followed my new teacher into the surprisingly cold gym in August 1997. My old school was brand new when I was in grade three. Now, I am in grade five starting in a new school in a new town. The school was much smaller than my previous, with only four classrooms and four teachers for the entire grade K-8 school. The gym was dark. The lines on the floor were peeling and the paint on the walls was chipping away. My old school had a brightly painted mural of a Raptor on the wall on one end of the gym, and a baby Raptor on the other end, where this school’s mascot, a Cougar was no more than a dull outline faded from years of neglect.
When all of the students had made their way into the gym and settled into four lines the principal came to the front to begin the start of school assembly. She asked us to rise for the singing of “O Canada”. I have always loved singing our national anthem. It played in my old school every morning over the intercom system, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. When I would hear the beginning notes I would always be overcome with a feeling of pride. It’s the same feeling I get when I hear “The Last Post” during a Remembrance service.
As I stood waiting for the music to start I looked around at all the new faces. To say I was nervous is an understatement. I wanted the music to start. It would be a nice distraction from all the new of the day. I could fall into a rhythm that I knew for just a few minutes. But there was no music, only four teachers at the front of the room starting the anthem off. Slowly students began to join in. I felt flustered but joined in and sang with pride.
I quickly became aware of the fact that only the younger students were singing. The older students were fidgeting, whispering and looking with interest at my sisters and I who were the only new students in town in years. The teachers continued singing but were also watching the disruptive students with intensity. For the first time I felt very aware of everything around me, and I was focused in on the whispering trying to determine if I was the target. For a moment I stopped singing in an attempt to fit in with my peers, or at least not stand out, but it felt wrong. I was proud of where I came from and could not understand how disrespect could be a gateway to fitting in. I started to sing again.
Since that day I had never stood silently during the singing of O’ Canada until September of 2020, when the school division I work for added singing onto the list of things that can potentially spread Covid-19. Singing, even with masks on is not allowed, but because we felt strongly that pride in our country is important to teach our students’ we have started to sign our anthem. It is amazing how quickly they learned adapted to this new method, and you can see the pride in their faces at their accomplishment. It is not the same, and I cannot wait until the day we can sing with pride once again, but in the meantime, we make the best of things.
Very well written! Just after reading the first sentence it brought me back to elementary and highschool. The description of the cold gym alone allowed me to smell that sweaty, cold gym air and gave me the little chill you’d get when you walk in. That simple detail alone set up the post for me! I am very familiar with the small town school feeling, and your description was very accurate and gave the perfect image. If you don’t mind sharing, what town did you go to school in? The comparison of your feeling of pride during the national anthem and “The Last Post” was great for readers to deeply understand what you felt as many people can relate to it. I also enjoyed how you described being so aware of everything around you. As someone who grew up with really bad anxiety, this was a very familiar feeling during every school assembly.
Overall, your post was very descriptive and enjoyable to read! The last paragraph was very interesting, I didn’t know that was the case now! While it was enjoyable, I think your post did have a bit more backstory than the assignment asked for as it was supposed to be a short moment in time. I think the story still could have stood alone without speaking about current time!