Virginia Beach, Va. (WTKR)- On the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Virginia Beach middle school students spent the afternoon learning about our nation's 35th President.
Anthony Nobles, a civics teacher in the Middle Years Program at Plaza Middle School, devoted his lesson plan Friday to JFK's assassination.
The students in his eighth grade class have only lived through two presidents, but offered up plenty on Kennedy.
"They understand how the president – the leader of the country – can have such a profound impact on how our culture operates," Nobles explained.
"I know that in the 60s, he was the President and he wanted to send Americans to the moon," stated student Kimberley Jones.
"He’s like a really noble man. I picked him as one of my favorite presidents because he’s someone you can look up to and admire and you want some of those qualities," commented student Jaden Shields.
"The car he was in – there was no top on it and there was a shooter in a building and he was shot," said student Taylor Payne.
Nobles used the anniversary to provide first-hand accounts of the assassination, including Walter Cronkite's broadcast on CBS.
Many of the students also talked about significant events they've lived through, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, the election of President Barack Obama and the Boston Marathon bombings.
