Our American Heroes

By: Brianna Brodie, Kinley McGinn, & Claire Dearing 

November 11th marked the 102nd year for celebrating Veterans Day. Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day and was established on the eleventh of November 1919. The purpose was to honor the end of World War 1. The name changed to Veterans Day in 1938, to honor ALL the veterans that served to protect America over the years. Princeville High School has held a Veterans Day program for a total of 17 years. With the exception of last year, Princeville hosts a yearly program to honor all veterans. Most schools get Veterans Day off but we go so we can hold an assembly to honor and recognize our veterans in our community. These veterans are our family and friends to the people of Princeville, so this arrangement is the least we can do to give back and remember these veterans that fought for our country. 

To start our program the Princeville FFA welcomed and guided all that came. We also incorporated the Boy Scout Troop 51. They had the honor to present the flags. To make sure everyone was included in our Veterans Day Program, the tech department provided live streams for those who couldn’t make it due to old age or Covid. The grade school wasn’t able to join us so they were some of the people on the google meet to support the veterans virtually. In previous years, Mr. Givens announced and ran the event, but this year, it was run by all Princeville students. Starting the program off was a Sophomore, Brinae Rice, with the welcoming opening. Then with the singing of the National Anthem with Sophie Noonen, an eighth  grader, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, started by a junior, Leah Wieland. Leah Wieland also explained the reason for the fallen comrade table and what each symbol represented. 

The 7th and 8th grade classes all wrote a letter to the veterans. They were told that one person from each grade would get chosen to present it at the Veterans Day Program. This has been a tradition that has been going on for many years in the junior high. The two winners for the best written letters were Leah Vaughn and Logan Blair-Scott. Eighth grader, Leah, and seventh grader, Logan, presented their very well written letters to the veterans thanking them for all that they have done and the sacrifices that they made. 

Another tradition that was also included in the program this year was the grade school students singing some songs for the veterans. Because the grade school kids couldn’t be at the program to sing, they recorded a video to show their appreciation for their veterans. 

When recognizing our veterans we changed things up this year. Instead of having 1 person do the announcing of the veterans, we had two students from your very own Princeville High School presenting each veteran to the school. Those two high schoolers were junior Leah Wieland and senior Hunter Stahl. After announcing all the names of our local veterans, we had the band play each branch's song. As the songs were played, veterans were asked to stand, if possible, to get acknowledged by the crowd.

To end the program, each veteran got a gift bag on their way out. These were made by the grade school students. Each bag had its own unique drawings and colors thanking them all for serving and fighting for their country.