An Assembly to Remember

Photo+by+Bailey+Vassalli+

Photo by Bailey Vassalli

Bethany Poteet, Staff Writer

Only a row of candles flickered as students settled in for an hour of speeches and songs recognizing our veterans and soldiers fighting for our country.

Not a cell phone buzzed as the silent crowd of 1800 students sat perfectly still in the gymnasium on November 10th. The JROTC presented our Nation’s colors and the crowd stood in respect as Mr. Mitchell approached the podium with an inspirational break down about why we salute the flag every day.

Students welcomed Mr. Bonner as spoke about how thanking the moms of the soldiers for keeping the homes running while the soldiers were away was another way of looking at Veteran’s Day. He spoke from personal experience.  He informed the crowd that he was part of a family where his dad went off for a long tour and his mom was at home for months at a time to feed, take care of and protect the family. With his dad gone all the time,

“Life went on,” Bonner said.

He commented he was thankful for her commitment to the family and proud of his father.

One of our teachers, Mrs. Caraballo is an example of that life that went on when her husband was on tour.  Her husband, Commander John Caraballo and her three sons are serving our country to this day in the military. Commander Caraballo spoke about the number of soldiers serving today.

“That’s forty six million vets in service since WWI, that’s ten times the population of Seattle and four times the size of New York City” he said. Caraballo challenged the audience with a comment asking, “What will you serve?”

Kari Jakobsen performed I’m Already Here by Lone Star followed by a slideshow of homecomings of soldiers.