Video by Iman Adem
By Kirsten Svitich
With the COVID-19 pandemic still looming, schools have altered their Remembrance Day activities to make sure students are still learning about the importance of the day.
According to a member of the Toronto District School Board, students will still be participating in different ways in the safety of their own classrooms.
Olena Kozoriz, a Grade 8 student, said this year her class will still be learning about the importance of Remembrance Day through stories and presentations.
“In some ways this year will be different, but we still get to remember our soldiers, which is the main thing” she says.
Before the pandemic, there were many foundations working alongside schools to give children opportunities to visit war memorials.
School field trips are not an option
The No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation has participants all over Canada whose main goal was connecting students with buried veterans in their local cemeteries by placing poppies on headstones, but this year, things were different.
Michelle Koch, a spokesperson for the foundation says they still want to create an impactful experience for students, so they have a livestream event and provide resources to classrooms.
She says some students painted poppies onto stones or made wreaths which were sent to their local cemeteries and laid for them.
“In these ways students were still able to connect in a slightly more personal way but from a safe distance which was really our top priority this year” she says.
Parents are encouraged to participate with their children in remembrance any way they can this year. As Koch points out, visiting the sites of war memorials or cemeteries where veterans are buried is a very impactful experience that keeps the memories of our soldiers alive.
Storymap: Memorials in the GTA.
By Viktoriya Kozoriz
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