Students, teachers join in forming human flag

Andrea Horrell knew how to be a star. Getting everyone else lined up in red, white and blue was a little harder.

The Cape Christian School sixth-grader and several of her classmates organized a human flag in a demonstration of patriotism.

Principal Beverly Smart carefully lined up the group of 130 children, who ranged from kindergarten to fourth grade, and teachers in the school gym on Friday morning. Some wore white and some red. Others, including sixth-graders like Horrell, dressed in blue and held stars.

Once in place, they recited the pledge of allegiance as proud parents looked on from a balcony and snapped pictures of the human flag.

Smart said creating a human flag takes a little organizing. "We rehearsed a couple of times," she said. "The sixth-graders came up with the idea."

Sixth-grade teacher Rhonda Young said her class first used colored cards to lay out the flag.

Deciding how many students were needed for each color of the flag was a major task, said Horrell. "We had a certain amount of each color we needed," she said.

"We had to put the younger kids in front so we could see them easier," said Horrell.

The students had to be lined up just right. Initially, they were too close together. "It was kind of a square," she said.

Sixth-grader Carissa Wheeler figures they could wave the flag again. "Now that we know how to do it right, it would be easier," she said.

After forming the flag, the students and teachers marched to the school's chapel for a short speech by Lt. William Burns, a Navy fighter pilot who has two nieces attending the school.

"You made me proud," Burns told the students.

Those who had been part of the human flag applauded.