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Tactile American flags allow SCSDB students to 'see' what they are saluting | GoUpstate.com
Students at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. But until Friday, many students never knew what they were saluting.
Visually impaired students in the School for the Blind now have 17 specially-designed, tactile American flags in their classrooms. The flags were donated Friday by the Kate Barry Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
All flags were hand-crafted by DAR members in Missouri. Blue braid borders a square of shiny star-shaped brads, and nylon webbing indicates where the red stripes are. Students can feel the 50 stars and the 13 red and white stripes.
Students have been studying flags this week, especially as the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches. In front of a packed room, students in the School for the Blind spoke on what they've learned about the flag's history and flag etiquette.
Students said they're happy to have flags in their classrooms that, through their sense of touch, can help them understand the history in the flag's design.
“Most visually impaired kids -- you know, the flags aren't tactile. They can't exactly see them,” said SCSDB student Amber Baskin, 17. “But now with these tactile flags, I feel like it'll have a big impact on how we learn about American flags.”
“It feels really cool. It feels like a tactile map,” added student Robert Winters, 18. “It helps us because blind people don't know what flags look like, and now that we've got these, blind people will know what they actually look like.”
Frieda Davison, regent of Spartanburg's Kate Barry Chapter, said she learned the school needed classroom flags while talking to a neighbor who works at SCSDB over Thanksgiving.
“We're hoping that like any student, they can learn the history of the flag, the significance of the flag the importance of the respect of the flag,” Davison said. “And a blind student, it's hard to explain a flag to a blind student without them being able to feel the differences of how it's constructed.”
During the presentation Friday, Davison said the flags help “preserve the past, enhance the present and invest in the future.”
SCSDB President Maggie Park expressed gratitude to the Kate Barry Chapter for providing the flags, and the opportunities for more meaningful lessons in American values. Park told the group she became an American citizen at age 12 after her family moved to the United States from Canada. Wearing her mother's flag pin on her lapel, Park recalled learning about the American flag as a girl, and what it symbolized to her family.
“It's just a piece of material with some stripes and stars, but it means so much more than that,” Park told students.
The Kate Barry Chapter raised the money to order 17 tactile flags, but Davison said 57 flags are still needed at SCSDB. She said the group will work with other organizations to help supply the rest.
Students at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. But until Friday, many students never knew what they were saluting.
Visually impaired students in the School for the Blind now have 17 specially-designed, tactile American flags in their classrooms. The flags were donated Friday by the Kate Barry Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
All flags were hand-crafted by DAR members in Missouri. Blue braid borders a square of shiny star-shaped brads, and nylon webbing indicates where the red stripes are. Students can feel the 50 stars and the 13 red and white stripes.
Students have been studying flags this week, especially as the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches. In front of a packed room, students in the School for the Blind spoke on what they've learned about the flag's history and flag etiquette.
Students said they're happy to have flags in their classrooms that, through their sense of touch, can help them understand the history in the flag's design.
“Most visually impaired kids -- you know, the flags aren't tactile. They can't exactly see them,” said SCSDB student Amber Baskin, 17. “But now with these tactile flags, I feel like it'll have a big impact on how we learn about American flags.”
“It feels really cool. It feels like a tactile map,” added student Robert Winters, 18. “It helps us because blind people don't know what flags look like, and now that we've got these, blind people will know what they actually look like.”
Frieda Davison, regent of Spartanburg's Kate Barry Chapter, said she learned the school needed classroom flags while talking to a neighbor who works at SCSDB over Thanksgiving.
“We're hoping that like any student, they can learn the history of the flag, the significance of the flag the importance of the respect of the flag,” Davison said. “And a blind student, it's hard to explain a flag to a blind student without them being able to feel the differences of how it's constructed.”
During the presentation Friday, Davison said the flags help “preserve the past, enhance the present and invest in the future.”
SCSDB President Maggie Park expressed gratitude to the Kate Barry Chapter for providing the flags, and the opportunities for more meaningful lessons in American values. Park told the group she became an American citizen at age 12 after her family moved to the United States from Canada. Wearing her mother's flag pin on her lapel, Park recalled learning about the American flag as a girl, and what it symbolized to her family.
“It's just a piece of material with some stripes and stars, but it means so much more than that,” Park told students.
The Kate Barry Chapter raised the money to order 17 tactile flags, but Davison said 57 flags are still needed at SCSDB. She said the group will work with other organizations to help supply the rest.