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As early as first grade, students at St. Mary are learning about our country's flag and its importance.
Many of them can't wait to get to 5th grade because that's when the big responsibility begins.
Growing up in school, we learn the importance of the iconic Stars and Stripes of our nation's flag. At St. Mary School in Sioux Falls though, these 5th grade students get the importance first hand.
"It's such a big responsibility because the flag is such an important part of the USA and it shows that we are free and that we have earned our freedom," 5th Grader Jack Starr said.
But before Starr and his classmates could raise the flag each morning, they had to learn the proper way to handle it.
"I'd never put the flag up before the Boy Scouts showed us how to do it, and I felt better after that because they showed us the proper way to handle it," Starr said.
And the Boy Scouts that taught the class are students themselves.
"The Boy Scouts were very proud. They had gone through a training all together and they thought it was pretty neat that they got to teach their classmates," 5th Grade Teacher Trish Hanisch said.
But more than putting up the flag for all to see, Hanisch says it's a great learning experience as well.
"It is a teamwork exercise because they rely on each other, especially at first, because they wanted a Boy Scout to go out with them. So, we did for comfort and so that it would be up properly. That's an important part of the flag and not touching the ground and all of the things that they have learned about it," Hanisch said.
And now, halfway through the year, they have got down the number of folds and just how to hook the flag properly. And for these 5th graders that's something to be proud of.
"It makes you feel like you have accomplished something, so if anyone now asks you to put up the flag in future times, you know how to do it," Starr said.
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