Harbour View pays tribute to astronauts

Doug Tabbert

Students and staff at Harbour View Elementary gathered around the

flagpole Friday to pay tribute to the deceased astronauts of the

ill-fated Columbia. The school assembles every month to relate

current events, perform and celebrate the unique privilege of being

an American. The monthly tradition began in response to the terrorist

attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“It was good to have the whole school get out their emotions,”

said 9-year-old Amethyst Miller, a fourth-grader.

The loss of the Columbia on Feb. 1 is bound to leave children

curious and confused, said Principal Roni Ellis, and these monthly

assemblies were started in order to answer student’s abundant

questions. National and international events often affect students,

yet remain well over their heads, Ellis said.

“[The assembly] made more people think of the astronauts who lost

their lives,” said kindergartener Neal Kuster, 6.

Seven students from April LeMense’s fourth and fifth-grade class

stepped to the microphone to relate a glimpse of each astronaut.

Kapla Chala, the first Indian woman in space, while viewing our

spherical home from space, wrote, “earth is very beautiful, I wish

everyone could see it.”

Student’s each held a small American flag. Second-grader Patrick

Dryer recited an original poem.”They are heroes of our country and we

will miss them,” he wrote. “We now have seven more stars in the

heavens above.”

Brooke Overend, 10, who admitted to being nervous at first, sang,

“Why,” a poem she wrote with her classmates Julie Haduong and

Elizabeth Tornhiem. Trevor Spencer, a fourth-grader, spoke of the

risk astronauts willingly accept when traveling in space.

“They always have to be ready out there, anything can happen,” the

10-year-old said.