Robbinsville – Football wasn’t the only thing on the minds of students at Robbinsville High School on Friday, as the institution hosted its annual “Salute to Our Veterans” program.
Anna Wehr welcomed students, faculty members, community visitors and veterans to the program, followed by the band and choir leading the audience in The Star-Spangled Banner. VFW Post No. 8635 and American Legion No. 192 presented colors, as a full gymnasium stood to attention. Everyone remained standing as Novie Dutcher led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. Ruth Aguirre followed Dutcher with a pledge in Spanish. The invocation was led by Alyssa Bohn.
Student council president Cooper Adams and vice president Isiac Collins read tributes to the veterans, while Abby Wehr followed by reading a tribute to her great-grandfather Master Sgt. Errol Evans, who passed away in 2023.
The second guest speaker was assistant superintendent and U.S. Navy veteran David Matheson. Matheson spoke of his time in the service and expressed his love for faith, freedom and family.
Bohn, Xamuel Wachacha and Olivia Lewis shared tributes to their family members who had served in the military. Veterans then stood to represent their branch of the service as the Marches of the Armed Forces was played by the band and the choir sang the Armed Forces Medley.
Students Dane Knott, Elliott Beasley and Jernie Greene participated in the conclusion of the ceremony with a moment of silence for the fallen and closing prayer. The band paid a special tribute to the fallen with a heartfelt Taps on trumpets.
America the Beautiful was sung as the program concluded. As the words through the bleachers and into the hearts of the young and old alike who gathered in tribute, everyone left the ceremony feeling a little more patriotic, a little more grateful and a lot more prideful to be a citizen of the greatest country in the world.