YORK, Neb. – Hundreds of fifth-grade students participated in a Flag Appreciation Day Thursday designed to instill respect and honor for the American flag at a time when some schools are banning students from displaying the symbol of freedom.

Students from York and surrounding communities converged at York High School for a decades old Flag Appreciation Day presentation put on by the York Lions and Elks clubs to teach students what Old Glory is all about, the York News Times reports.

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Superintendent Dr. Mike Lucas kicked off the program by pronouncing America as the greatest country on earth, and calling on students to ensure it stays that way.

“Your job,” Lucas said, “is to make this great country better than it already is.”

The flag day festivities included contributions from the York High School band, local veteran Bruce Wagner and Boy Scout Troup 174, which posted The Colors to start the program and helped with a historical presentation of dozens of flags, according to the news site.

Aside from several versions of Old Glory, students also learned about the meanings behind the “Pine Tree Flag” used by George Washington as commander of the Continental Army, and the Gadsden flag, used by the Continental Marines, both during the American Revolution.

Students who participated in the program came from six area schools: Emmanuel-Faith Lutheran, Fillmore Central, McCool Junction, York, St. Joseph’s Catholic, and High Plains Community schools.

“You are going to be the next generation,” said Wagner, who maintains the town’s flag displays on I-80 and Hwy 34. “You’re going to be me someday.”

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The flag appreciation program follows countless examples of school administrators across the country forcing students to remove American flags from their vehicles to avoid “controversy” and appease minority students who find it offensive.

Just last week, Dinwiddie, Virginia student Daniel Nunnally Jr. was ordered by administrators at Dinwiddie High School to take down the American flag and a Gadsden flag he was flying from his Ford F-150.

“I was in the middle of my second period weight training class and my assistant principal came in and pulled me out of class and told me that I had to go outside to take both flags off my truck so there was no controversy or anything,” Nunnally told WRIC.

“I understand the Confederate flag, if there was a problem with that, but this is the American flag,” he said.

School officials initially told the media they asked Nunnally and another student to remove American flags from their vehicle because they were possible driving hazards but reversed the ban after local law enforcement sided with the students.

In York, students learned a much different lesson about the American flag on Thursday, one many school officials in other areas have apparently forgotten.

“That flag represents everything this country stands for,” Wagner told the fifth-graders. “A lot of people have died for that flag.”