Students from Gorsebrook Junior High braved the elements on Friday to attend a special Remembrance Week ceremony at Fort Massey Cemetery in Halifax.
The “No Stone Left Alone” initiative was started in 2011 and is designed to educate the next generation about the sacrifices made by Canadian veterans.
“We’ve partnered with local military units and junior highs because junior highs are the next generation that we want to instill the sacrifices of those gone before,” said organizer Lt.-Col. (Retd) John McEachern.
“They get involved. They walk around each and every one of these headstones, read the headstone and place a poppy, so it becomes very personal for them.”
READ MORE: Vancouver students place poppies on veterans’ graves to make sure no stone is left alone
The idea is that students place a poppy on each gravestone so that, quite literally, no stone is left alone.
“It’s very overwhelming I guess because it’s a lot to think about when you really think what the meaning of this is for,” said grade 9 student Nhi Dihn.
More than 8,000 students are expected to participate in similar ceremonies across Canada.
READ MORE: 93-year-old WWII veteran praises No Stone Left Alone efforts: ‘They’re doing a tremendous job’
“In classrooms and assemblies, students are often told about the wars, they learn about it in the classrooms and such, but this is an actual physical way that they can lay a poppy on a veteren’s tombstone and remember in their own personal way,” said David Leblanc, principal at Gorsebrook Junior High.
The event was hosted by Global Halifax’s Ron Kronstein.
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