Patrotic Extravaganza

On Tuesday evening, February 20, "A Patriotic Extravaganza" was presented to a large audience at the Carthage Junior High School auditorium. The program, "A Night Celebrating America," was performed by 150 first grade students from Carthage Primary School. The director, Debbie Leggett Miller, invited me to attend. Debbie was a student of mine at Panola College, and so was her future husband, Randy Miller, Debbie has taught in Carthage for more than four decades, and currently she teaches music to the lower grades.

 

 

Principal Kiley Schumacher aided by a student assistant,
introduces the program.

 

Director Debbie Miller

A few years ago Debbie began staging Patriotic Exravaganzas celebrating America, with as many as 200 first graders on stage, dressed in red, white and blue. Many were attired in military uniforms from the different branches, and some were dressed in costumes, from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, from George Washington Carver to Martin Luther King, from Betsy Ross to Amelia Earhart. During these events the stage abounds in American flags, and a high point of each performance is a re-enactment of the raising of the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima.



Student narrator and George Washington

Betsy Ross

 

George Washington Carver

 

Thomas Jefferson

 

Statue of Liberty

 

Uncle Sam

 

Amelia Earhart

 

Randy Miller and I went together. At the entrance I was handed a program by a first-grader named Kaison Holloway, who was clad in red, white and blue. The program was introduced by Principal Kiley Schumacher. Veterans of the armed services were recognized from the audience, and the students onstage sang an "Armed Services Medley." I was introduced as Texas State Historian. Musical performances included "The Star-Spangled Banner," "This is My Country," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "America the Beautiful," and "God Bless America," along with other patriotic airs. The performance of these patriotic first-graders generated applause over and over, and at the end we gave a rousing standing ovation.  

Abraham Lincoln

President Trump

Star Spangled Banner

It was an evening for flag waving

Military salute

With costumed students

With more costumed students