RCS hosts Veterans Day program
Second graders from West Elementary School perform during the Russellville City Schools Veterans Day Program this past Friday. Photo by Gary McNutt.
By Ally Willis
For the FCT
Every day on Nov. 11, our country sets aside a day to remember our veterans.
This past Friday, Russellville City Schools held a program honoring the veterans in the community.
Sgt. 1st Class Louvina Gross, who is the Army instructor for the RHS JROTC, opened the program preceding the presentation of colors. RHS student body president Chase Holland then came to the stage and led the audience in the pledge of allegiance.
According to Gross, there are 23.3 million veterans in the United States. Out of those, 9.2 million are over 65, 1.2 million veterans are under 35, 1.8 million veterans in our country who are women, and each one deserves to be recognized.
To get the whole school system involved in honoring the local veterans, groups from each school in the system performed during the program.
From Russellville High School, the RHS Chorus performed “America,” “Civil War Medley” and “You Raise Me Up” with solos sung by sophomores Hunter Butler and Salvador Blanco and juniors Bryce Scruggs and Savannah Mills. Kourtney Joiner and Jorge Flores performed a lyrical dance, and students from the RHS Show Choir performed a song in sign language.
The second graders from West Elementary School honored the veterans by singing “11/11” and “Oh, I Love America,” and the Russellville Elementary School fifth grade chorus sang “America, My Home” and “The Heart of America.”
The Russellville Middle School show choir and drama team then came to the stage to sing “American Soldier.”
At the end of the program, students from RHS and RMS came together on stage to recognize each branch of the army with a song. As each branch was mentioned, veterans in the audience from that branch stood and were recognized for their service.
“This program was a great way to honor our veterans,” RHS junior Morgan Hovater said.
Lauren Alford, 16, agreed.
“It is special because I can live in a free country because of our veterans,” she said. “It was nice to see our school system honor and recognize what these men and women did for our country.”
