The room was filled with tears of pain and joy coming from the eyes of retired service men and women as they were greeted by a victory line formed by the High Hats and the playing of  an armed service medly by the band brass section. 

This was all part of a special lunch  Nov.  11  organized by the staff to honor the veterans for all their work and sacrifice. Those in attendance received sandwiches provided by Subway and were treated with a cake designed by the culinary department as well as receiving athletic shirts from the athletic department.

“It makes me feel warm in my heart. I understand what it is they had put on the line for us,”  Principal Tia Simmons said. “And I’m excited to acknowledge them for this moment in time and always. When I see servicemen and women out I always say ‘Thank you for your service not just today but always.’”

The lunch had a donation from subway, and this would make it the fourth year in a row for them to donate to the Veterans Day lunch.

“It means I wish I could do more because a sandwich isn’t enough but I’m glad that I was able to invite my employees for them to be able to experience this because they need to get an idea of what these people did and what they gave up, what they sacrificed,”  Subway manager, Allen Conley said.

After the lunch one of the vets spoke about their time in service.

“My most memorable experience was getting my rifle for the first time,” veteran and teacher Kimberly Baker said. “I just felt like a superhero.”

Baker said at the end of her service leaving her service members was the hardest thing to do.

“When my service ended all I did was feel proud not just of myself but of my fellow soldiers,” Baker said.

So on this special day teachers took some time from their day to say, ‘thank you for everything you have risked and have done for us and our country’. Even though we can never show just how thankful we are we hope you will accept the little things we can do.

“They’ve served their time and we need to be thankful for it and we remind them that we are thankful for it,” Simmons said. “Some of our servicemen and women still have moments that they relive they have memories that will keep them happy for a long time and they have other memories that they are challenged with. So I think that in any opportunity that we can we need to focus on what we can do for them.”