Students Meet Veterans at School

By CYNTHIA JEFFRIES

EDEN — Most students at Morehead High School know Timothy Buck as a business education teacher, a guy they like because he isnt too strict.

Thursday, students got to know another side of Buck — the soldier, the veteran.

Buck was one of the Morehead and Holmes Middle School employees who took part in a program at the high school to honor Veterans Day, which is today.

For about an hour, Morehead students watched films about soldiers and a short skit that dealt with veterans missing in action.

Then, students saw some local veterans — the teachers, cafeteria workers, school secretary and others whom they run into at their schools everyday.

I didnt know Mr. Buck was a veteran until this week, 10th-grader Brittany Hylton, 15, said. He doesnt talk about it in class.

The idea for the veterans program stemmed from a conversation exceptional children teacher Joan Mabes had in August with school secretary Leola Meador.

Mabes told Meador her 32-year-old nephew was going to Iraq.

Then, Meador mentioned that 10 or 12 employees at the school also had military experience, including the Army ROTC teacher, David Bray. He served 15 months in Iraq and returned home in July 2004.

Mabes, Bray and the ROTC students began working on the program, collecting information from the school personnel.

Eventually, they had enough information to spread the veterans activities over four days. Organizers held prayers around the high school campus flagpole, decorated veterans classroom and office doors at the school and asked students to dress like soldiers.

All Rockingham County Schools will be closed today in honor of Veterans Day.

Bray said the activities this week were important because he wanted the students to know why they were getting a day out of school.

I wanted to educate them on what Veterans Day was really about, what it consists of and let them see veterans, he said.

Contact Cynthia Jeffries at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or cjeffries@news- record.com