There will be a Veterans Day Parade on Wednesday, November 11th to celebrate the contributions of our local veterans and servicemen and women. Veterans from all five campuses are invited to participate in the parade. Students from each campus may serve as an escort for their relative or veteran guest and ride in the car with the veteran. A few vintage cars and a few cars from the Greenwood Car Show with drivers will be available. Escorts and veterans in their own vehicle will begin lining up at the Fairgrounds by entering from Nashville Street at 8:15a. Veterans are asked to sit on the passenger’s side of the vehicle. Name signs will be taped to the glass on the passenger side of the vehicle. Social distancing and masks will be required for participating GHS students and staff, and are recommended for the public to keep our Veterans safe. Coffee and muffins (provided by Wal-Mart) will be available at the fairgrounds and Kim Singer Photography will also be there to take an individual picture of the veteran and his or her escort.
At 9:00a the parade will exit the Fairgrounds via Joplin, proceed with a police escort down Daisy Street, right on Gary and around the circle drive in front of the Performing Arts Center. Veterans will receive their Challenge Coin from school representatives in front of the PAC and then proceed down Gary, right on Bell Road, right on Atlanta in front of the post office, left on Aster, right on the Town Square Street (north side of the Square), right on North Main and back to the Fairgrounds. The community is asked to line the route to honor our Veterans. Kim Singer Photography will come back to the Fairgrounds and be available for individual pictures if a picture was not taken before the start of the parade.
All students from all campuses are then to report to their respective schools. No school transportation will be provided for any part of this event. Principals, you may want to individualize the participation with sign up sheets or check-in procedures.
A video will be provided to each school with a recorded Presentation of Colors by the GHS Air Force JROTC, Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem by 6 trumpets of the GHS Band, a choreographed song from one of Ms. Leigh Ellon Leonard’s classes, and a recorded 5 minute message from our guest speaker, Jon Allman of San Antonio. Allman is the director of the Endeavor Program which provides services and employment opportunities for over 3000 veterans. He has a local connection as he married Tara Lanier, 1984 GHS Graduate. He agreed to speak for us back in February but Covid-19 changed all of that. Allman’s talk will be followed by photos of local veterans to complete the video to a 30 minute time period. The video will be shared with the local VFW to be viewed by the community. The video can be shown and/or edited at the discretion of each campus. The video is being recorded by Troy Jarrell of G6mProductions.
Beta Club will be delivering cookies (made by our cafeteria staff) to students in the High School and Freshman Center as part of our celebration.
Thank you principals, for wanting to make this event special for our veterans. It will look a lot different than in past years. Instilling a sense of service and patriotism at each grade level is a very important part of our calling to educate. I am so very proud to be a part of Greenwood Schools. Please feel free to contact me at the high school or on my cell phone - 479-719-2199 if you have any questions.