Youth celebrate the Constitution

Graham High School Student Council presented the 79th Annual Flag Raising ceremony by the Graham chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution in honor of Constitution Week on Wednesday morning. Constitution Week is celebrated annually from Sept. 17-23. DAR started Constitution Week and it was later adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into public law on Aug 2, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The aim of this week long celebration is to inform people that the Constitution is the basis for America's great heritage. "I think the youth of today doesn't always stop to take the time and appreciate the small things and all of the things our country has accomplished and been through," said Student Council President Molly Talbott. The Graham chapter Regent Betty Burgess gave a brief presentation during the ceremony to give appreciation to the student council for continuing this GHS tradition, which was originally started by Eugenia Howell in 1938. "I just think the Constitution is something we live by everyday," said Burgess. "I'm glad to see the youth thinking about the Constitution and what it really means," she said. The Silas Morton DAR chapter was organized in Graham on April 14, 1928 in the home of Regent Maude Dawson Spears. The chapter was named after Spears' Revolutionary ancestor, Silas Morton of Massachusetts, who was commissioned First Lieutenant on Jan. 1, 1777. Graham's chapter is 1 of 200 in the state, and 1 of 3,000 chapters nationwide.