Faculty members at Yough Intermediate Middle School scrambled to get more chairs as veterans and family members streamed into the gymnasium for the annual Veterans Day Celebration that took place Tuesday.
“We set up for 130 and we need more chairs,” Yough faculty member and event chair Brian Grindle said as they set up more seats to accommodate the guests. “That is a really good problem to have.”
The program for the local veterans in now in its third year at the school, and attendance has steadily grown.
“A few years ago we realized that it was a long time since the school actually had a formal Veterans Day celebration so we decided to do something,” Grindle said. “It's not only a wonderful way to honor our veterans and show our appreciation, but it is also a great life lesson for the students to learn the importance of our veterans and the importance of honoring them.”
The program featured two special speakers, Capt. Robert Prah and Staff Sgt. Jesse Maund, both 2001 graduates of the Yough School District.
“It's amazing to be back here today,” Maund said of their appearance as speakers. “Neither of us have been back here since we graduated and that's about 20 years.”
Maund said that he and Prah were best friends since the first grade and enlisted together and were deployed together.
Both are now employed at the California University Veterans Services department.
“”We have been blessed with generations of brave men and women,” Prah said. “If it wasn't for these brave men and women then the world that we now live in would be a much different place.”
In addition to the speakers, students read award-winning patriotic poems, the school band and choruses performed, and everyone was entertained by a continuing scrolling slide show that featured 35 veterans who are friends or family members of staff and students.
Veterans were asked to stand and be recognized, and all were presented with homemade “Thank You” cards that the students created for them.
“I think that this is really nice,” veteran John Wright of Hutchinson said as he read his card. “It's awesome.”
Students were also given the opportunity to make stars, which they then dedicated to veterans.
The stars are now all hung in the common area of the school.
“Honoring our veterans is important,” Yough principal Kevin Smetak said. “It's an honor to have you all here today.”
Grindle said that students were sent home information about the event and were told to invite any veterans that they knew to come and take part. He said he was touched that so many filled the gymnasium.
“We can't fully repay our debt of gratitude to you all,” Grindle told the veterans gathered. “The price of freedom is high and we can not afford to forget those who were willing to pay.”
Marilyn Forbes is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.
