The New Bern High School student body in New Bern, North Carolina, includes many students from all around the world. So, according to enctoday.com, when teacher Willie Sumner got the idea to display the flags of these countries in the school cafeteria, students pitched in to make it happen.
New Bern High School Cafeteria
A group comprised of the Drama Club, the Global Visions club and the Senior Class raised funds to purchase 27 flags that now hang from the rafters of the lunch room.
There was only one problem, however. Apparently no one remembered to include the American flag. As luck would have it, a “staff member” was concerned enough about providing a well-rounded educational experience for the impressionable youngsters that she donated the flag her family received at her father’s military funeral. Now everyone can be sure of exactly where it is they are.
Update, Monday 11/2/09:
We received a phone message over the weekend from Willie Sumner (pictured above), who pointed out that the American flag was actually donated first, and not as an afterthought as we implied. We erroneously made the assumption that the American flag had been donated after the fact because it was not mentioned until the 18th paragraph of the enctoday.com story cited above. You know what they say about making assumptions.
The intention of our article was not to disparage the motives of Mr. Sumner or the students of New Bern High School. We think their efforts to make new students from other countries feel welcomed is commendable and we were delighted to hear that the American flag was, in fact, their top priority.