The Veterans Day Assembly

Riley Welch

On the 7th of November, Exeter High School hosted its annual veterans day assembly with many of the community's Veterans in attendance, as well as the New Hampshire Governor, Kelly Ayotte. Mr. Blais began the assembly by welcoming the veterans and introducing Madie Poteet, a 2026 EHS graduate who knows what it's like to grow up in a military family.

Poteet reflected on her father’s deployment and how this has influenced her to want to go into the fighter force. The powerful messages conveyed through Poteet’s speech helped the students in attendance see that Veterans day is not just a day off of school, it is a time to remember and appreciate those who fought to protect the nation.  

Following Madie Poteet’s powerful speech, Mr. Blais expressed that the most important thing when dealing with veterans, is the families who support those deployed, referring to Madie and her experiences growing up. This was followed by the EHS band playing the Armed Forces Medley where each veteran who fought in that service would stand to be recognized.

The next guest speaker introduced was New Hampshire's very own Governor, Kelly Ayotte. She stepped up and acknowledged the band, Mr. Blais, and Madie for their contributions to the assembly, and most importantly thanked the veterans for being there: “We have our freedom because of our veterans.” A big theme of this assembly was not only recognizing the veterans who served, but the families who supported these individuals, “families serve too.”Ayotte's husband is an air force veteran, having a direct relationship with a veteran, allowing her to have a first hand experience of what it's like to support those who fought. Ayotte concluded her speech by addressing the people in the room; reminding students, teachers, and staff the importance of remembering veterans everyday, not just on veterans day. She provided examples on how anyone can honor our veterans: “A way to honor them is to treat each other with dignity and respect”, another way is to find a way to help others, looking for ways to give back from within our communities. “We all have an opportunity to serve”. Every small act of service makes a tremendous difference, many students are involved in community service, Ayotte reminds the student body that they are the future and to go out and serve in any way you can.

Mr. Blais spoke next, as a veteran himself, he can describe what the average person can do to make a veteran feel appreciated saying, “True Service is to give yourself to serving others”. He reflects on how students can find ways to help and take away some of the burden for someone else.  “Actions are what really show appreciation". The help and service students can provide emphasises the appreciation students alike have for our veterans and that we truly thank them for their service, not just by telling them, but by showing them.

Following the Band's playing of “America the Beautiful” Mr. Blais gave the closing remarks. He began by talking about the feeling of the first time in combat, and how lonely it is due to your own personal fear. He explains that when he looked around at the people near him, they all seemed fine, but when he looked in their eyes he realized they are just as scared, this made him see that it is “ no longer me, it becomes we”. These connections help get you through. Serve for them, not yourself. He then connects the lonely feeling of being in a combat zone for the first time, to the high school experience, it can be lonely, because you are scared. The main takeaway of this message is that it is the “collective that makes us great” connecting to others will give you the courage you need to get the job done, it will show that you are strong and think how you want to serve veterans and the little things that can be done to honor our veterans while also giving ourselves the courage to do these things. 

Following the assembly I asked Governor Ayotte two questions regarding her role and veterans day. I first asked, “Why did you say yes to attending today's assembly?” We have invited the governor to this assembly in the past, but she is one of the few who actually came. She replied by saying, “I thought that it was pretty awesome that all the kids were at one assembly. I really wanted to make sure our young people, whether they have a family member that is a veteran or know someone in their community, can feel this connection. When I saw the invitation I thought this would be really good to be able to have all the students here, it seemed like a really nice assembly to be in, and Mr. Blais is so dedicated.” I then asked her, “As governor, what's the most meaningful part of your role on a day such as Veterans Day?” She replied with “The most meaningful part of my role is to make sure that everyone knows that my role as leader of the state is to convey how much the state cares for our veterans and our military families and that they know that I am there to support them. So I am a military spouse and a military mom, but it's more so about making sure that they know that as the governor, and that we as New Hampshire really value veterans and care about them”