Through the years, men and women have fought daily to protect our country's freedoms, often at great personal sacrifice. The students at Butler Middle School want to recognize and honor that selfless service with the school's annual Veterans' Wall of Honor. It began in 2001, when the school received a $36,000 grant after it was named a First Amendment School. 

"The grant was for us to create programs that would focus on the First Amendment and create strong citizens," said Jen VanHaaften, teacher/librarian at Butler. "The Veterans' Wall of Honor was an off-shoot of that program as a way to connect our students to the community and teach them about the sacrifices of our veterans and the cost of freedom."

The Wall of Honor has existed for more than 10 years and is still going strong today. Since Sept. 11, the students have been submitting names and service information for those they would like to honor, including years of service, branch of military and connection to a Butler student or staff member, usually a family member. The display will begin on Nov. 1 and stay up through Veterans Day on Nov. 11. There will be a school-wide assembly to celebrate these individuals.

"Both our choir and band will be performing patriotic music. Then we will be showing the PowerPoint that will be filled with pictures of the veterans from our community," VanHaaften said. "In the past, this has been a wonderful thing to experience, and our students have been respectful and clapped and honored each one of the veterans." 

Members of the community are also invited to participate and submit information for those they would like to honor. 

"The students wanted a way to honor our veterans, and this was the result," VanHaaften said.