The third Monday in February is President’s Day. In 1885, this day was called “Washington’s Birthday” in recognition to former president George Washington. Traditionally it was celebrated on February 22nd.
“George Washington was a great president for being the first president. He did his job very well for being the first president,” World History II teacher Sabine Labossiere said.
The name was changed in 1971 as a part of the Uniform Monday Holiday act. The act was set in place to give the nation workers more three day weekends.
“The name change gave a chance for all the presidents to be recognized for their good deeds rather than just George Washington,” Labossiere said.
In the beginning of the 2000’s, the date change has become nationally recognized and presidents has been nationally celebrated on the third Monday of February.
President’s Day is traditionally celebrated to recognize the all of the American presidents and their achievements. The two most popular presidents to discuss on President’s Day are Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
“Presidents day is a day to acknowledge the presidents. The role of being a president is very tough. There are many responsibilities and roles of the president so when they are doing a good job or did a good job they should be rewarded and those who did not so good should ,” Labossiere said.
A number of states require that their public schools spend the days before presidents day teaching about the accomplishments of several presidents.
“Some schools are out of school on presidents day because it is a federal holiday. We are not out of school on President’s Day because of school is very conservative and we need those 180 school days. so we can either take a day off our winter break or one out of out spring break,” Labossiere said.
Though many schools in the nearby areas have closed their doors on President’s Day, the staff at the high school have used this schooling day to share some knowledge on some of our presidents.
Photo: President Barack Obama addresses the community at the Rolls Royce plant off of Route 460 in Prince George County in 2012. Photo by Jessica Marshall.
