Poppy display helps students feel connected to past
Remembering all the sacrifices so many had to make so young
WATERLOO REGION — Hundreds of hand-painted poppies float in the atrium at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School in Cambridge.
“They were made out of coffee filters,” said 15-year-old student Sydney Standing. “There’s two per poppy and they each have to be individually painted and then dried and then the centre put on them.”
Art students in grades 9 through 12 helped make the poppies. Once they were completed the students attached them to long streams of fishing line and had them cascade down the centre of the bright, school atrium.
The students were helped by art teacher Ann Weiler.
“You know the Tower of London where the poppies are spilling out? That’s kind of the effect we were going for,” said Weiler.
The students did their research when deciding on a design for the poppy display, which they say helped them connect to a past they are far removed from.
“I think for the kids, it’s ... recognizing the sacrifices and achievements of people they may never meet,” said Weiler.
Standing agrees. “I think this is a reminder that this is something really important; that we do want to remember,” she said.
This Remembrance Day marks a significant anniversary — it’s been 100 years since the end of the First World War. The anniversary is being commemorated by the Royal Canadian Legion with the Bells of Peace initiative. Communities across the country are being asked to ring bells that hang from places of worship and other buildings, on Sunday at Sunset.
Mark Humphries, Wilfrid Laurier University associate professor and chair in War and the Canadian Experience, says reflecting on the legacy of the war is important.
“It helps us understand where we’ve come from and perhaps where we’re going,” he said, adding that the First World War thrust Canada onto the world stage.
About eight per cent of Canada’s male population enlisted in the First World War — 620,000 — and of those 420,000 served overseas and more than 50,000 perished.
Humphries said the loss transformed families, the state and Canadian society. And its effects have been long lasting, shaping debates that have characterized Canadian politics for the last century, he said.
“The shadows of the Great War are long and sometimes, although they aren’t easy to see in the modern world, they’re still there,” he said.