On and off duty veterans were honored on their special day… or were they?

The annual Veterans Day assembly took place last Friday and many were disappointed with the way they were commemorated.

The assembly started with a standing ovation as the veterans entered the gym. There were two speakers in the short amount of time. Many students and teachers felt that the veterans could have been better recognized.

Friday morning, students piled into the gym for the assembly. As the veterans arrived, they were escorted by JROTC students and were met with a standing ovation that lasted long after they were seated.

During the assembly, two veterans spoke to the school. One of which was Sergeant McGlasson, who greeted the crowd and kicked off the assembly. Following McGlasson, Major John T. Hourigan, a former member of the air force.

While the assembly was executed with good intentions, some thought the short length of it was disrespectful. Without counting everyone entering, being seated, and exiting, the assembly was less than 15 minutes long. Most believed that there wasn’t nearly enough time to completely honor those who fought for our country.

Students showed a tremendous amount of respect for the assembly and participants but the assembly itself seemed scattered and unorganized. Monty Edwards, a social studies teacher, thought that the assembly could have been improved. “You can never fully honor veterans enough,” he said. He was very pleased, however, with the enthusiasm of the crowd.

Sophomore Donovan Matheis also thought that this assembly was not as well planned as ones in previous years. “Last year we had more veterans recognized which made it longer, so it was better,” he said. He felt that it could have been improved if they recognized all the veterans individually instead of as a whole.

Edwards also thought it would be a good idea to recognize more than just the group in general. He said, “I don’t put myself in the same category as those who did fight, but I think they could have recognized each branch and the conflicts they were involved in.”

Overall, it was a respectful assembly, but could have been better planned to fully and completely recognize those who fought for our country.