2/26/2015:
As the United States entered World War II, everyone on the home front was called upon to help. The Schools at War program was organized on September 25, 1942, by the War Savings Staff of the Treasury Department and the U.S. Office of Education. The program was set up to garner the interest and participation of students in public and private schools, grades kindergarten through 12th. Students were asked to save, serve and conserve – by giving money through the purchase of war stamps and bonds, conserving money and materials for the war effort, and by saving for personal security.
On this date in Griggs County, students were deeply engaged in the program. That was the report of Agnes Evenson, county superintendent, who was serving as a member of the "Schools at War" Committee. Also on the committee was Superintendent E.V. Estensen of Cooperstown, and Miss Minnie Anderson of Hannaford.
Among their activities, the Griggs County students were collecting metal, hosiery, and fat. Evenson said that during the spring and summer months, many of them would assume more elaborate tasks, like the raising of victory gardens and taking the place of full-grown men who left important farm jobs to serve in the military.
The youth had helped in the fall with this sort of farm work, and Evenson said it was not unusual to see teenagers driving farm tractors and doing other tasks that "are considered to require adult strength and experience."
Across the country, the students recorded their “Schools at War” activities in scrap books. The Griggs county scrap books would be shown at the Griggs county North Dakota Education Association. From there, the best books would be sent to a state exhibit, and from there, to a national exhibition.
It was a way to include everyone and to offer them some incentive and reward, outside of the stress and worry about what was going on "over there."
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Sources:
"https://secure.in.gov/library/2474.htm" https://secure.in.gov/library/2474.htm
Griggs County Sentinel-Courier, February 18, 1943, p1