Aurora elementary school students honor veterans, active-duty military, first responders with parade
Altitude Elementary School transformed the surrounding Aurora neighborhood into a parade route Thursday morning as veterans, active-duty service members and first responders made their way around the school. The annual event kicked off a week of Veterans Day celebrations across Cherry Creek Schools and offered students a chance to thank those who have served.
For Principal Scott Schleich, the parade was more than a school tradition. It was a chance to pass along a lesson he hopes students carry with them long after Veterans Day is over.
Schleich has organized the parade since Altitude Elementary opened in 2018 and first launched the tradition 16 years ago at another school. This year, before he retires after 25 years with the district, he decided to make it bigger than ever with military flyovers and a special grand marshal.
"For this being my last Veterans Day parade, I thought he'd be a great one to go out with me," Schleich said.
That honor went to Bill Wilhelmi, a Navy veteran whose daughter teaches kindergarten at the school. Wilhelmi's decision to serve was deeply rooted in family history.
"I had three uncles in World War Two. One of them was on Pearl Harbor," he said, holding back tears.
That uncle, he said, survived the attack after being thrown into the water by an explosion.
"He had to swim underwater about a mile because it was all on fire," Wilhelmi said.
Inspired by his relatives, Wilhelmi joined the Navy at age 20 and was assigned to the USS Enterprise shortly after it was commissioned.
"Right out of boot camp, I was on the Enterprise...and I made the maiden voyage to the Mediterranean on it," he said.
Decades later, Wilhelmi said he hopes young people never lose sight of the sacrifices made by members of the military.
"I served my country and want everyone else to respect it and realize how fortunate we all are," he said. "I want them to learn how great their country is and what all of the veterans have went through, so that it will still be great."
Many of the students watching the parade already seemed to understand that message.
"To help to say thank you to all the veterans and to have them feel appreciated," third-grader Maya Davis said when asked why it is important to honor veterans. "They serve really hard, and some of them really die fighting for us, and they fight for kids to go to school, to be protected, and literally just to like have fun and be safe."
Schleich said helping students make those connections is the reason the annual parade continues to be such a valuable tradition.
"We feel it's an important lesson for our kids to learn to honor and celebrate our veterans, our active duty, and our first responders because of the sacrifices they make so that they can be free," he said. "It just burns in their mind that this is something huge and something important that that they need to hopefully cherish the rest of their lives."