School of Discovery students piled their plates high with turkey, dressing and yams Thursday for the school’s annual Thanksgiving feast. A line of students wrapped around the cafeteria in anticipation for their Thanksgiving meal.

Crystal Boykin, technical education teacher, said the feast was also in conjunction with celebrating American Education Week.

“We have a wonderful public education system and this is just our way of celebrating it,” Boykin said.

Each day this week has had it’s own theme to celebrate American Education Week, Boykin said. Monday, the students celebrated veterans, Tuesday was parents’ day, Wednesday was dedicated to celebrating professionalism and Thursday was “educator for a day.”

Boykin said out of all the week’s festivities, the students have been most excited for their school dance, which will be held tonight in the auditorium.

“We’re really excited about our fall dance,” said Dione Allen, student council president. “We’ve been trying to keep our behavior up so we can have it.”

Allen also said he along with his classmates have enjoyed the Thanksgiving meal, adding that “the banana pudding was probably my favorite.”

Boykin said another lesson she has been trying to instill in her students is the value of a good education, something many children aren’t fortunate enough to have.

“This years theme for American Education week is “great public schools are a basic right and our responsibility,’” Boykin said. “We need to understand that public education is a privilege and it’s their job once they’re here to obtain an excellent and quality education.”

Assistant Principal Timothy Strong agreed and said the Thanksgiving meal tied in well with the theme of American Education Week.

“It’s really been a wonderful week,” Strong said. “The turkey, yams, banana pudding—the kids have all loved it.”

Boykin said she hopes next years Thanksgiving feast will be even bigger and better.

“It’s become more progressive each year where we’re trying to get more of the community to come in and things of that nature,” she said.

Principal Jacqueline Walker agreed and said, “we have many, many wonderful teachers and students here at School of Discovery. We’re a family.”