Cecil Intermediate School celebrates 200th anniversary of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’
Four members of Bella Voce group from Canon-mcMillan High School sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” to Cecil Intermediate School students at a program commemorating the 200th anniversary of the song. From left are junior tenor Drew Sipos; senior alto Amber Antle; senior soprano Brianna King; and junior bass Nick Charles.
The flag flies outside the Cecil Intermediate School after a ceremony Friday to honor the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key penning “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Two hundred years ago Sept. 13, a young Francis Scott Key and his good friend Dr. William Beanes were on board a British warship in the Baltimore harbor during the War of 1812. Key, a Washington, D.C., attorney, had just completed successful negotiations with the British for Beanes release. However, night was falling and a battle was raging for the nearby Fort McHenry, so a British admiral advised Key and Beanes to remain on the ship. The pair were told to take a good look at the large American flag flying over Fort McHenry as it would not be there in the morning after the British won the battle.
By dawn’s early light, Key saw the U.S. flag was still flying and he was so moved, he pulled an envelope from his pocket and wrote a poem that, when put to music, became “The Star-Spangled Banner.” At the time, the hand-sown flag had only 15 stars and 15 stripes representing the 13 original colonies and newly admitted Vermont and Kentucky.
On a chilly Sept. 12 morning 200 years later, 419 students at the Cecil Intermediate School in the Canon-McMillan School District gathered near the school’s flagpole as 11 students read brief comments about the song and the flag.
Student Madison Palivoda said that while the War of 1812 is somewhat obscure, the song the war inspired has “fostered a strong sense of national pride among the American people.”
The anniversary celebration was organized by music teacher Cheri McIlvaine.
“I’ve been teaching the song all week,” McIlvanie said following the 15-minute event outside the school’s main entrance.
She held similar celebrations in previous years, however, honoring the 200th anniversary was special.
Student Caroline McGaffrey said that Key was overcome with joy on seeing the flag through his small telescope on the morning of Sept. 14, 1814, that he began to write the poem, which was, according to student Alexis Batchelder, completed a few days later in a Baltimore hotel room.
Eventually set to music, the song became the official national anthem in 1931 through an act of Congress signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Also speaking were students Mallory Krock, Owen Maher, Hayley Bockius, Carrera Sutherland, Ty Lewis, Sarah Tonkovich, Braiden Marks and Liz Zupancic.
With a majority of the students in fifth and sixth grade dressed in red, white and blue, each placed a hand over his or her heart while four members of the Canon McMillan High School singing group Bella Voce performed an a cappella rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The group consists of junior tenor Drew Sipos, who once attended Cecil Intermediate School; senior alto Amber Antle; senior soprano Brianna King; and junior bass Nick Charles, who, like Sipos,was once a student at Cecil Intermediate. They are under the direction of teacher Maggie Sisson.
McIlvaine said the song is difficult to sing because of the large range. “It goes very high,” she added.
During the ceremony there was no breeze and the large flag outside the school along Route 50 in Cecil was still. As the students filed back to the classrooms, a light breeze picked up and the flag unfurled in the early morning light bringing home the words Key wrote 200 years ago.