HAYMARKET — Sailors from USS Gravely greeted students and volunteered in classrooms at Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. Elementary School on students’ first day back at school for the 2018-2019 school year.
At the start of the school day, sailors lined up outside the building to greet families. They also handed out stickers to each student to remind them, and their teacher, if they were car riders, walkers or bus riders.
Principal Michael Kelchlin expressed his gratitude for the extra hands on deck for the first day of school. He said, “The time commitment that they made to come up here and show the kids that they’re important and that education matters is huge.”
After all the students were settled in, the sailors took time going from classroom to classroom, explaining their individual jobs aboard the USS Gravely and answering questions from curious students.
According to a press release from Prince William County Schools, this school is named after Admiral Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., a resident of Prince William County and the first African American officer to command a U.S. Warship. Navy officers and sailors have regularly visited the school since they opened in 2008.
Students in Dina Baird’s second-grade class asked the sailors questions like “Have you ever been in a storm?” and “How many people does your ship hold?” The students were engaged and seemed to enjoy having the sailors visit their classroom.
Students learned about different sailors’ roles on the ship including a sailor from food services, medical, navigation, and logistics. Command Master Chief Larae Baker explained ranks to the students and fielded questions like, “How do missiles get unloaded from the ship?”
Kelchlin believes having experiences like the one these sailors provide makes meaningful lessons for students.
Kelchlin said, “As you can see in the classroom the kids have great questions, they love any kind of visitors, but when it’s servicemen and women who come in and give up their time to share about their lives it’s meaningful. So much of what we do in education, we need to make meaningful to make it stick for our kids.”
Kelchlin says that having volunteers from the USS Gravely is an ongoing tradition at Gravely Elementary.
“It’s been that ongoing relationship for the past 10 years where they don’t only come up for this first day of school, they’ve come before for our field days, they’ve come to help us celebrate special events, and it’s just that ongoing collaboration,” Kelchlin said.
Nearly 91,000 children were welcomed back to Prince William County Public Schools on Monday, according to a press release.
