On May 21 and 22, the Young Republicans sponsored the first non-partisan Veterans’ Week at the high school where students and faculty had the opportunity to attend presentations by veterans and hear about their experiences.

  Presentations were held during select lunch waves over the course of the two days, and many of the presenters were alumni, both graduated students and retired faculty. President of the Young Republicans senior Ashley Dummit is hoping that through these presentations, she can bring more awareness to the lack of appreciation towards the country’s veterans.

  “I decided to organize this event for many reasons, mainly being rooted around the fact that high schools like our own fail to honor veterans anymore. The topic is talked about very limitedly in our [curricula], which has really come to bother me. These people have sacrificed their lives for our country and do not get the recognition they deserve. I just want to bring awareness to these issues, especially as a senior, as I want people to continue to fight for the rights of veterans here at [the high school],” Dummit said.

Sophomore Joey Guglielmo saw former math teacher and Vietnam-era veteran Bob Thomas’ presentation and saw it as a wake-up call.

  “Listening to him tell his story about his journey all around the world for our country had a big impact on what I take for granted and makes me wonder what I can still do to pay veterans back for serving our country,” Guglielmo said.

  English teacher Kaitlyn McIntyre was also present at the same presentation and found it interesting that Thomas was able to easily assimilate into other countries culture as most of the citizens spoke English. Dummit believes that she was able to achieve her overall goal of raising awareness and educating the school about military service.

  “I’m am very happy with how the event went. What I wanted from the event was just to spread awareness of the importance of honoring our veterans and honestly just educate people about military service in general,” Dummit said.

  Dummit hopes the event will continue and would like to bring in more veterans to speak.