PINE ISLAND, Minn. - When he was being dropped off at school one morning, Pine Island Elementary School 3rd grader Isaac Canfield noticed the American flag flying in front of his school had seen better days.
He asked his mom Kristin Canfield if they could buy a new flag for the school. After a few e-mails back and forth between Kristin and the school, Isaac donated a crisp, clean, new American flag to Pine Island Elementary School.
"It's one of the most important symbols of America," explains Isaac.
On Thursday morning, 3rd-grade teacher Jane Erickson had her student bundle up to join Isaac and the school custodian outside. Together, Isaac and the custodian raised the new flag. Without direction from the school staff, the 3rd graders recited the Pledge of Allegiance. As they did so, a bald eagle soared over the flagpole.
"It was just an unbelievable moment," explains Erickson. "I was thrilled that the whole class experienced that together and that it all began with a 9-year-old boy."
"To show such patriotism at such a young age, that's astounding. And that came from home," adds Erickson. Isaac's mother and father are in the National Guard.
"Both of us have been deployed and both of us have lost people on deployments and back home and we just try to make him understand that yes it's just a flag but the meaning behind it is what's important," explains Kristin Canfield.
