School Pays Tribute to Flag, New Citizens

Standing before students, teachers and parents at Cantara Street Elementary School on Friday morning, Betsy Ross explained that although she was surprised when Gen. George Washington asked her to sew the country’s first flag it was something she’d done many times before.

“I sewed flags for the Pennsylvania navy,” the Philadelphia seamstress told the audience, “so you see, making flags was not unusual for me.”

Actually, it was Sandy McGuern, the Reseda school’s principal, dressed in a red, white and blue outfit she sewed herself. With the help of faculty and staff members, McGuern created the Flag Day tribute as a way of celebrating America’s history in song and speeches.

“I think it’s very important for children to understand America and the history of the flag,” she said.

Held in a festively decorated courtyard on the nearly 40-year-old campus, the event began, naturally, with the pledge of allegiance, the national anthem and a parade of U.S. flags collected from the school’s classrooms.

A group of fourth-grade students traced the flag’s history through the last 220 years, from its beginnings as a modified version of the British Union Jack to today’s design with 50 stars and 13 stripes.

“The American flag stands as a symbol of the land of the free,” DeVaughn Wilson told the crowd, standing before a flag that once flew over the U.S. Capitol. “It flies all over the country and even the moon.”

The 90-minute event paid tribute not just to Old Glory but also several school staff members and neighborhood residents who recently became U.S. citizens.

Maria Canales, a school office worker who was sworn in May 31, said that she was eager to exercise her new rights.

“I want to be able to vote,” she said. “I want to elect the president.”