KIDS TALK

-- Photos and interviews by Stefanie Frith

We asked fifth-graders at California Elementary School in Costa Mesa:

What does Presidents Day mean to you?

“It’s a day to honor our past presidents and to celebrate George

Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. And to take the day off.”

BRADLEY FISHER, 11

Costa Mesa

“It’s about our past presidents. It’s OK.”

BULMARO CONTRERAS, 10

Costa Mesa

“Presidents Day means to honor the presidents that lived and died for

us.”

ANDRE BARBOSA, 11

Fountain Valley

“It’s honoring the presidents that were president.”

ATHMA RAMDATH, 11

Costa Mesa

“Presidents Day means to thank the presidents who ran from our

country. If I had been president when George Washington was president, I

would have helped to free the slaves, and I wouldn’t make the taxes high

so that there wouldn’t have been the Boston Tea Party.”

THERESA PFIEFER, 10

Costa Mesa

“It’s a good way to remember what the presidents helped do, like how

Lincoln helped in the Civil War.”

STEPHANIE GARDNER, 11

Costa Mesa