Dear Editor:
As they do each year on the day before Remembrance Day, New Westminster Secondary School students paid tribute to our soldiers, past and present, at Massey Theatre. Like last year, I was humbled and amazed at the students' diligence, maturity, talent, and generosity of spirit.
They remembered, and they were grateful for the personal strength and courage of those who choose to serve and sacrifice.
Exploring their feelings about war and peace, and about duty to country, family, and self through dance, song, music, poetry and stories, the dancers, band, choir and drama students moved the audience, some to tears.
In his address, guest speaker Capt. Braden Greaves was clearly affected by the commitment of these students.
The assembly was powerful because everything on stage and backstage was led by students. They choreographed the dances, wrote the poems and stories they told, edited the videos, and arranged the music. Backstage, they managed all the technical aspects.
Students also led the traditional elements of a Remembrance Day ceremony, including the processional and recessional, colour guard and an achingly beautiful Last Post by one of the trumpet students.
Of course, all of this is possible because of the highly respected and dedicated drama, dance, band and choir teachers and because, overall, they have the teaching and performance spaces necessary to offer fine arts programs recognized throughout the region for their excellence.
This assembly, which is performed twice so that all the high school students can attend, would be impossible in a black box theatre that seats just hundreds or, even worse, in a multi-purpose room, which many new high schools are stuck with for their performance needs.
It was a privilege to attend this ceremony with other parents and New West residents.
I wish that more parents and other New West residents would come and fill the front rows that are reserved each year for members of the public.
I urge you to put next year's ceremony on your calendars now: Attend NWSS Remembrance Day ceremony at Massey Theatre, 8: 40 (Block A) or 10: 10 (Block B). You won't see a more moving tribute to Canada's military, and you will witness for yourself the pride of New West - our fine arts programs and our young people.
Robyn So, New Westminster
