Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – An upcoming Veterans Day celebration at Presque Isle High School is meant to both honor the brave servicemen and women who keep this country safe while at the same time educate the students.
“Honoring Our Servicemen and Women” will be held Monday, Nov. 10, the day before Veterans Day. The program will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the PIHS gymnasium.
“We’re going to have veterans from World War II on up come in and speak to our students about their experience in the military,” said LeRae Kinney, event organizer and social studies department chair. “It isn’t necessarily combat experience; just a story or two about their experience in the U.S. military.
“We’re going to begin by having a welcoming ceremony in the gymnasium with the student body, the band and chorus, a color guard, and a keynote speaker … a little intro and welcome to our school,” she said. “The students will then return to their homerooms, and the veterans will then go to them. They’ll speak to them for about 20 minutes or so, and then they’ll switch rooms and speak to another group.”
Each veteran will speak to two different classrooms.
“At the end, we’re going to have a brunch-type reception for the veterans,” said Kinney. “We’ll serve coffee, donuts and muffins as a way to thank them for coming in.”
Kinney said about 30 veterans have already agreed to participate in the program. However, more are needed.
“We have 41 homerooms,” she said, “so that’s really our target number. We need at least 11 more who would be willing to come in and speak to the students. If we have more than that, they can certainly pair up. If they want to come in with a friend and speak as a team together, that would be fine, too. I know sometimes that takes the nervousness out of it.
“Sometimes people are very nervous about talking in front of a group,” said Kinney, “but it’s really a non-threatening environment. They’re relatively small groups – about 15 students in a homeroom – and a teacher will be present in every room.”
Kinney said Charlie Smith of the Maine Veterans Home in Caribou has been instrumental in supplying names of local veterans.
Something similar to this program was last done about 12 years ago.
“It’s been a while, and we’re a country at war, and our students need to be aware that our veterans are all around us and that we owe them a debt of gratitude,” said Kinney. “They’re everywhere in the community. Even in seeking out veterans for our program, I’ve discovered people that I know that I didn’t realize were veterans. It’s important to try to help the students understand that.
“I hope our students gain an appreciation for the service of our men and women and the commitment that they have,” she said, “and that we have them to thank for the freedoms that we have every single day. I think it’s easy for our society to lose sight of that, and I really hope the students are able to recognize the value that our veterans have.”
Any veteran interested in participating in PIHS’ “Honoring Our Servicemen and Women” can call Kinney at 764-0121 or by e-mail at lerae.kinney@sad1.org.
