Students pledge allegiance

By RACHEL WEDDIG

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- As part of Pledge Across America, New Ulm Public School students stood and recited the pledge of allegiance at 1 p.m. Friday along with millions of students across the country.

The U.S. Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, declared Friday, "Pledge Across America." A nationwide, synchronized Pledge of Allegiance began at 1 p.m. CDT. Over 100,000 public and private elementary and secondary schools were invited to participate.

Inga Rohde, a 6th-grader at Washington Elementary, felt honored to lead the school in the Pledge of Allegiance.

"I felt good because I was a part of all the children in the U.S.," Rohde said. "It felt good to be a leader in saying the pledge. The flag means freedom, that we're a country of independence."

The Pledge Across America was organized by Celebration USA, a nonprofit organization created to strengthen instruction on the basic principles of American democracy in classrooms.

"We followed through with the Pledge Across America as suggested by the Department of Education and to show our strength and solidarity (after) the Sept. 11 incident," said Superintendent Harold Remme. "Students had the option of choosing to participate."

The Pledge of Allegiance is still said in some classrooms, but is optional for the students. Friday all district classrooms offered students the chance to recite the synchronized pledge.

Students stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance to show their support for the victims and workers of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I'm proud of the people that supported New York," said 6th-grader Kjerstin Ellanson. "I feel proud to do this. The people that did this to us thought it was the right thing to do, but it wasn't."

Some students stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance to support God and America's freedom.

"I felt honored to say a prayer to God and to praise our country for its freedom," said 6th-grader Heidi Sperling. "I felt good doing this. The people over there that did this are horrible human beings -- they shouldn't have done what they did. I think about the families and a child saying, my dad just died."

What was going through the minds of the victims on the planes, still runs through the minds of the students.

"I bet it was scary for the people on the plane," Ellanson said. "They thought they were going somewhere great for vacation or something, and then they suddenly die."

In the letter Paige sent to principals across the United States, he voiced patriotism and urged the schools to come together with a unified Pledge of Allegiance.

"As a nation, we have responded to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 by offering our support to the victims and their families, to the rescue workers, and to the men and women of the United States military," Paige wrote. "I write today to ask you to join me and students, teachers and parents and other proud Americans across the country in showing our patriotism by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a single time and with a unified voice in your classrooms on Friday, Oct. 12."

Seeing the flag waving high in the sky makes students feel good about being in America.

"The flag makes me feel glad to be an American and glad to be free," said 6th-grader Nick Schneider. "I'm glad to say the Pledge of Allegiance and I'm still mad about what they did."

To some students the stars and stripes of the American flag stand for the right to choose and the right to have an opinion.

"To me the flag stands for freedom and makes me glad to be an American and to be able to make my own choices," said 6th-grader Travis Reinhart. "I'm scared now that there is war, but saying the Pledge of Allegiance makes me feel good."