One hundred years ago, one of the largest incidents in world history occurred: World War I.

In remembrance of the Great War, this year Pleasant Valley put on an assembly. PV Chamber choir sang joined with the wind symphony band. There was a presentation of the colors, families of PV alumni who went into the army were honored and a new addition of a remembrance wall was added to the main hallway. The idea to do this assembly is partially credited to our very own Quique Rojas Berazaluce.

Berazaluce isn’t originally from the United States. His dad works for John Deere and his family had a sudden move here from Mexico about 6 years ago. Berazaluce said, “The reason why I’m doing this assembly is because this is something that I want to be a part of. I want to be a part of this American society, and I want to teach people a lesson.” Even though he only has his green card, he admires the United States and wants to become a full citizen soon.

The United States itself has had quite a dark past. It has been through wars, the Great Depression, terrorist attacks and much more. World War I is considered one of the largest incidences in history. Berazaluce summarized the great war and said, “Everyone in the first World War tried to assert their dominance, and it didn’t work because they weren’t working together; they were more so working against each other.” The war ended in 1918, and everyone thought that it would be the “war to end all wars”. Unfortunately, this was not the case as World War II began just 21 years later.

Obviously the United States isn’t a  perfect country, but many people still glorify the American Dream. While talking about his perspective, Berazaluce stated, “I take America for what it is now, history should not define it. It is not a perfect country, no country ever is, but it’s good. It’s better than a lot of countries.”

So yes, the United States has been through a lot, but Berazuluce is saying that the past of United States shouldn’t define its present or future. There is both good and bad, but people don’t have to dwell on the bad parts. People had fought hard for their life and their country, and this can not be forgotten.

The assembly itself ran a little longer than usual. It began with Mike Zimmer talking a bit about World War I, and explaining how the assembly came to be. He introduced Berazaluce as well. Following this, the chamber choir and the band performed “America the Beautiful”, the band played the “Star Spangled Banner”, the “Pledge of Allegiance” was led by the National Honor Society presidents and then the band and choir performed “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.

A select few from Drama put on a skit focused on letters that were written by soldiers from the war. Leading out of the skit, concert choir performed an arrangement of “In Flanders Fields” and then there was a 21 gun salute. The student body was respectful and quiet the entirety of the time. It was a very moving assembly, especially when the families of PV Alumni accepted folded flags in remembrance of their soldiers who had died in the Vietnam War.