Six-year-old Miya Pringle wasn't even born Sept. 11, 2001, but she and the rest of her first-grade classmates were enthusiastic participants in Friday's Freedom Walk on the Douglas school campus nonetheless.

"At this age, there's no understanding of 9/11," said Marie Luciano of her young elementary school students. "For them, today is about freedom."

The Freedom Walk stretched out behind a color guard that collected students from Douglas High School, a middle school and three elementary schools. The ensuing parade of 2,500 students and 400 staff members wound its way through the sprawling school campus to the stadium, where the high school band played "The Star-Spangled Banner," and superintendent Loren Scheer welcomed students to the third annual event.

Younger grades carried handmade items to celebrate the day: Luciano's class made red, white and blue paper pom-poms; Meggan Hillman's students wore "Freedom Flies" necklaces of decorated airplanes.

During speeches at the stadium, Air Force Lt. Col. Kevin Kennedy briefly recalled the terrorist attack against the United States eight years ago for the "many of you who have little or no memory of that day." But he said "the attack is not what we should remember" about 9/11. Rather, he asked students to celebrate the spirit of service and patriotism that Americans showed in the days, weeks and months after the attack.

Cameron Jones, 16, was just 8 years old when terrorists crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing almost 3,000 people. Under sunny skies and a brisk wind Friday, Jones and his friends sat on the school football field and agreed that celebrating patriotism and military service was a good way to honor the memory of 9/11.

"We're the Douglas Patriots, and remembering that day is patriotic," Jones said. "It's what we do. We're the Patriots."

Kennedy, the deputy operations group commander at Ellsworth Air Force Base, asked students to honor America's patriots - past and present - including the 500 Ellsworth personnel who are currently deployed around the world. He read the names of three Douglas High School graduates who went on to serve the U.S. in the military, noting that they were just three of the many Douglas Patriots who have made a difference in the world.

Quoting from Abraham Lincoln's Gettsyburg Address, Kennedy reminded students, "as you leave here today, take great pride that you … will not allow freedom to perish from this earth."

Superintendent Scheer said many schools around the country are instituting Freedom Walks on Sept. 11, which is know known as Patriot Day. Scheer used the event to focus on military service, introducing a group of invited military veterans that included Frank O'Grady, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Some people have criticized the move away from observing Sept. 11 only as a day of somber reflection for 9/11 victims. But Marilyn Maurer, a secretary at Badger Clark Elementary School, said seeing Sept. 11 evolve into Patriot Day - a day that promotes community service, volunteerism and national unity - is appropriate.

"There's tragedy in life, but you have to move on," Maurer said. "Life goes on."

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com