Wednesday, November 28, 2001
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Wednesday, November 28, 2001 |
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Brooks school honors county's veterans More than 70 veterans and their families representing all branches of the military took part in Veterans Day celebrations hosted by Brooks Elementary School. The festivities kicked off with a parade from the school through the town of Brooks. The county's veterans lead the parade in style, waving at passersby from jeeps, convertible cars and an open-air bus provided by the Fayette Shrine Club. All students from the school walked in the parade carrying banners and pulling red wagon floats. The Brooks Town Council donated $10 per classroom to help fund the decorating of the wagons and signs. Also, the Brooks Community Club donated a flatbed trailer, which the school's chorus decorated in honor of the veterans. Chorus teacher Rebecca Nelson rode on the float while the Brooks Singers followed behind proudly waving American flags. Along the parade route, students and other participants stopped at a Post Office mailbox to send thank-you letters to veterans for their service to the country. Prior to the parade, student escorts dressed in military fatigues greeted veterans in the lobby of the school and escorted them to their seats of honor for a patriotic assembly. The ROTC Color Guard and chorus from Decatur High School presented the colors and sang the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful. A short play was also performed by students Hannah Skibiel, Josh Watson, Matthew Bates, Taylor Dickson, Nathan Nestor and James Byrd that explained what a veteran is and why Veteran's Day is an important holiday. The day's festivities were wrapped up at Brooks Park in the evening with a community picnic and a candlelight ceremony honoring the veterans. Entertainment was provided by the Brooks Elementary chorus, Music Alive and The Studio dance company. This year marked the second annual Veteran's Day Celebration at Brooks; however, it was the first time the school had organized a parade. "I had many veterans approach me today to say 'thank you' for inviting us to be a part of the celebration. They said that they had never been asked to participate in something like this and appreciated the fact that the school and community came together to honor them," says Dana Sams who helped to organize this year's events. The idea to have a celebration to honor local veterans was the brainchild of former Brooks principal Harry Sweatman. Last year Sweatman, who served one tour of duty in Vietnam, approached Jibbie Baker, a teacher at the school, and told her that he would like to do something for the veterans. The school organized a community picnic and invited local veterans to participate. The picnic was such a huge success that the school decided to expand the celebration and add the parade this year. "We are just really proud of the celebration we hosted this year. The students worked hard to get everything ready. It was a very uplifting day for all of us," says Baker. Baker's students were responsible for writing individual letters to local veterans to personally invite them to attend the parade and community picnic. Approximately 125 letters were mailed.
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