Hundreds of seventh- and eighth-graders at Merton Williams Middle School learned a lesson in compassion and humility on May 22. Students heard firsthand about people living without limbs and from veterans of the nation’s wars.
Seventh-graders started the day in their classrooms with several different activities, which included challenging the students to complete simple tasks such as putting on a shirt or tying a shoelace, by using only one hand. Other students were faced with transporting items across a classroom while moving on only one leg. Although students giggled their way through the tasks, they spoke about the physical and emotional struggles they went through in those moments.
“We never realized how people actually lived their lives without limbs,” said seventh-grader Karly Suhr. “We got to see how people’s morning routines go. Something as simple as that can be so difficult with prosthetic limbs or no limbs at all.”
The learning experience is part of a bigger partnership with Limbs International, a non-profit organization that partners with schools to educate students on the needs of amputees around the world.
Hilton High School freshman and amputee Garrett Spring received a standing ovation from the seventh-grade class after sharing some of his experiences, including living life with a prosthesis.
“Although I’m missing a limb, I’m capable of doing the same things as everyone else,” Garrett said. “This is who I am. Anyone who is different is still a human being.”
Meanwhile, the eighth-grade class experienced a different lesson in global awareness. Social studies teachers Pam Tenny, Colleen Grego and Anastasia Stamoulacatos arranged for veterans from various American wars to speak to students about their experiences in the military and how they helped change the course of history. Just a few days ahead of Memorial Day, veterans from World War II and the Vietnam, Korean and Iraq Wars spoke to the students about the hardships they dealt with during the wars and how it changed them.
“It was a day where kids could see history come to life,” said Tenny. “We hope they gain an understanding that America was built by people who gave great service and sacrifice, and that they come away understanding how very fortunate they are to live in this great country.”
“It really makes you want to recognize them for what they did because they protect us and who we are as a people,” said eighth-grade student Maverick Clark. “We wouldn’t be able to live the way we live now without them.”
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