OPA raises stars, stripes

Ned Floeter looked out into the crowd of students and guests, an audience backdropped by a colorful display of American flags rippling in the wind.

The Olympic Peninsula Academy principal detailed what kind of effort it took to put on such an event: the dedication of the Sequim school’s first flagpole and its first flag-raising,

A number of people will be celebrated and receive accolades, Floeter told the crowd of about 215 people on May 18, just outside the school grounds, while a number of them will work behind the scenes, receiving no recognition.

“But that is what it means to be of service,” he said.

“Service is a noble calling: it can be great or small. Either way, it is still very important.

“Our flag up there reminds us we have a responsibility to serve.”

The effort behind getting Olympic Peninsula Academy’s (OPA) flagpole started with conversations between the Michael Trebert Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Floeter, noted Ginny Wagner, chapter member and flagpole project chair.

The chapter was busy offering support in the classrooms with civics lessons.

Floeter said that one thing OPA didn’t have just yet, Wagner recalled, was a flagpole to raise the American flag, like each of the other Sequim schools have.

“So we responded with big smiles,” Wagner said.

The Michael Trebert chapter then formed a group of community sponsors and got key backing from Sequim Jamestown Excavating along with local veterans and military groups, including: Carlsborg VFW Post 6787 and Sequim VFW Post 4760; Fleet Reserve Association Dungeness Branch 147; Sequim American Legion, Jack Grennan Post 62; Port Angeles American Legion, Walter Ackley Post 29; the John Paul Jones Chapter, Washington Society, of the Sons of the American Revolution.

On May 18, OPA students, with some help from sponsors, raised an American Flag that now waves over the school at 400 N. Second Ave.

Fourth-grader Brooklyn Glavin and fifth-grader Wolfgang Daniel Bowerman were winners of the OPA essay contest that asked students to consider, ” What the American Flag Means to Me.” Glavin, the winner of the school-wide winning essay, read her winning composition.

Sequim High School student Georgia Bullard offered an excerpt of the poem “I Am the Flag” by Ruth Apperson Rous.

Students and other dignitaries also helped with a ceremonial placing of a time capsule at the base of the flagpole, filled with various items from OPA students along with items — many of them challenge coins — from military and veterans groups.

The event brought a number of dignitaries to recognize OPA’s milestone, including Clallam County commissioners Randy Johnson and Mark Ozias, Sequim city manager Matt Huish, mayor Tom Ferrell and city councilor Rachel Anderson, and Sequim schools superintendent Regan Nickels — who offers her perspective of seeing the stars and stripes flying over Fort McHenry — among others.

“Our flag means a lot of different things to many different people,” Floeter said.

“It is often seen flying over schools, courthouses, government offices, front porches, so many other places … and yet we often give it little notice.

“To many people in our country and around the world, our flag represents freedom and liberry. Sadly our flag has been maligned. But happily, it has aslo been championed.”

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Dignitaries and students from Olympic Peninsula Academy raise the American flag over the school at a dedication ceremony for OPA’s new flagpole on May 18.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Local veterans and military groups offer the stars and stripes at Olympic Peninsula Academy’s new flagpole project last week.

Sequim Gazette photos by Michael Dashiell Sequim Scout troops help present colors at the Olympic Peninsula Academy flagpole dedication ceremony on May 18.

Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell / Emcee Greta Christianson introduces honored guests at the Olympic Peninsula Academy flagpole dedication ceremony on May 18. The flagpole project was a partnership between the school and the Michael Trebert Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, along with a number of community sponsors.