Students to Read Flanders Field Poem
Each year, a high school student from one of the international schools in Belgium is selected to read John McCrae's poem, In Flanders Field. This is a tradition of the Memorial Day Ceremony at the Flanders Field American Cemetery that dates back decades. This year that tradition will be enhanced a translation of the poem into Flemish by a Belgian high school student from a town near Waregem.
St. John's International School in Waterloo as chosen 10th grader Sydney Smith to represent their school at the ceremony by reading the poem in English. Sydney is from Oak Ridge, North Carolina. She is the daughter of Randy and Gabriella Smith and has a brother, Adam Smith. The family relocated to Belgium in 2011 for her father's work. Sydney is a competitive horseback rider who owned her own horse "Goody" back in Oak Ridge. In Belgium she continues to ride on her new horse "Paladine." Sydney is also a setter for St. John's volleyball team. Sydney has come to like Belgium more and more since she has been living her, and is happy that her family is likely to stay in Belgium for at least another year. After graduating, she hopes to attend university in North Carolina.The Stedelijke Kunstacademie (Arts Academy) in Waregem has selected Cedric Demeulemeester to read the translation of the poem into Flemish. Cedric lives in Markegem, which is a small village near Waregem. He is currently in his fifth year of high school in the Belgian system, which is equivalent to being a junior in the American system, and he studies sciences and languages. However, he takes additional classes at the Arts Academy where he plays percussion instruments, and follows acting and poetry classes. Cedric considers it a great honor to be the first student selected to read the poem in Flemish. As he says, "I have always been interested in the war and it's stories. So this is my life in a nutshell." In fact, Cedric wrote the translation that he will read himself!
Lt. Col. John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, wrote In Flanders Field on 2 May 1915 on the back of an ambulance at a dressing station that is now the Essex Farm Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery near Ieper. The day before, McCrae had witnessed the death
of and presided over the funeral for a former student and close friend, Lt. Alexis Helmer. The poem captures the essence of why we must perpetuate the memory of our war dead, and it was the inspiration of the name of the Flanders Field American Cemetery. The recital of the poem is a treasured moment during the annual Memorial Day ceremony as it is a unique opportunity for a young person to honor the many men who died in the prime of their own young lives in order to make possible the freedom that today's youth enjoy.