Student Submissions
Oklahoma Jenks East Elementary School, JenksThe students chose the eagle to represent freedom because it is a symbol of the past, the present and will endure in the future. They worked with their art teacher to create an eagle out of construction and origami paper. Each feather is made of origami paper and on it is written a freedom or a right enjoyed by a student in the class: "I glad to have my choose of religion," "I'm free to move where I want to," "I'm free to own a gun," "I'm glad to have the right to a fair trial," "I am free to live where I want," "free to have a good reputation," "freedom of the press" "I'm free to use electronics," "I'm glad I can eat fresh food," "I'm free to go wherever I want," "I'm free to shop," "freedom to have an education," "I'm glad to be able to stay with my family," "I'm glad to have advanced technology," "I'm free to drive a car," "I'm free to read whatever I want," "I'm free to vote," "I'm glad to have my own way to dress," "I'm glad to have the freedom to be myself," "I'm glad to have good literature," "I'm free to leave my country," "I'm free to go to the hospital," "I am free to have strong allies," "I have the freedom to express my feelings and ideas"
They recorded an audio tape of a song about an eagle they learned in music and over the instrumental section read two original paragraphs:
"We chose the eagle because it is our country's symbol. It is bold because it will protect it's territory from any size enemy, big or small. The eagle is smart and will stand strong no matter what. It is the protector of the sky for the eagle is the most powerful of birds. Eagles are free, just like us.
"We made an eagle because it represents our country and has many of the same traits of the U.S. It is smart, brave, might and stands for freedom. We have written one right on every feather because freedom lets us fly. In America we have rights that people do not have in other countries, and we should be thankful. The U.S. citizens are proud of their country."