Kellogg JROTC has busy Veterans Day weekend
Courtesy photo Silver Valley veterans and Kellogg High School students stand while the KHS Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps color guard presents the colors last Friday.
Courtesy photo Silver Hills Elementary School students put their hands over their hearts while the color guard presents the flags and the national anthem is played.
Photo by JOSH MCDONALD A crowd gathers for a ceremony at the Frank Reasoner Memorial in Kellogg on Veterans Day.
KELLOGG — From Friday to Monday, people across the Silver Valley paid their respects to those who have served in the armed forces in one way or another.
One of the popular options to do this was to take part in the many ceremonies held at schools and memorials in the area over the short time period. At almost all of these events, the Kellogg High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps color guard team were on hand to present the flag of our nation.
This act of presenting the colors at events such as this has become a tradition in the Silver Valley around Veterans Day — one that JROTC instructor and Sgt. Maj. Jeff Smith looks forward to every year.
“We’ve always done quite a few color guards for Veterans Day assemblies,” he said. “We definitely enjoy it. It’s especially important for the kids to see the importance of celebrating that day of the year.”
On Nov. 9 alone, the 10-12 person color guard team performed at KHS, Kellogg Middle School, Wallace High School, Mountain Valley of Cascadia, and then back at KHS for the Marine Corps birthday ball.
Two days later, they were back presenting the colors at the Silver Valley Veterans Memorial ceremony in Kellogg.
The students who sign up to be part of the color guard put in a significant amount of extra effort to stay on the team. Every Wednesday, they meet up at KHS before school to drill and make sure they have the routines and ceremonies down. This requires a tremendous amount of commitment by not only the students and instructors, but the parents as well.
Although these early drill times do count toward their required volunteer hours, Smith explains that the students do it because they want to.
“We never have a problem getting kids to sign up to do those (ceremonies), so it’s pretty neat that the kids are excited about it too.”
The KHS JROTC is also known for doing presentations at the various local cemeteries on Memorial Day and other veteran-centric events.
Happy with how the team performed, Smith was appreciative to the various venues for allowing the color guard to show up and do their thing.
“Thanks to the administrators of the buildings that we do that in. It’s neat that they find it important,” he said.