‘Honoring the past, embracing the future:’ Hillsboro City Schools recognizes district’s service members through new veterans monument
Lead Summary
By
Caitlin Forsha-crforsha@gmail.com
Hillsboro City Schools honored the district’s “past, fallen, current and future veterans” Thursday, Nov. 11 during their Veterans Day assembly and dedication of a new monument at the high school.
According to Hillsboro High School guidance counselor Jessica Rhoades, the Veterans Day ceremony was held Nov. 11 in the new high school auditorium.
“The veterans ceremony was intended to recognize and celebrate our community veterans, veteran staff members and current enlisted seniors that have taken the oath to serve,” Rhoades told The Highland County Press. “This ceremony was extra special because we unveiled our new veterans monument to symbolize our past, fallen, current and future veterans.
“We take pride in ‘honoring the past while embracing the future,’ which is a theme surrounding many aspects of Hillsboro City Schools. We plan to add additions to the veterans monument area each year. Plans include flags, benches and possibly a wall mural. The monument can be found near the entrance of the new auditorium.”
During his report to the Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education Nov. 15, superintendent Tim Davis called the Veterans Day assembly “the biggest” event held by the district “in a long time.”
“One, we got to have it in the new auditorium, and the other is we got to invite our veterans back in the building,” Davis said.
To cut down on the number of individuals in the room due to the pandemic, this year’s assembly was limited to high school seniors and area veterans in attendance, while the program was live streamed for all the other classes to watch, according to Davis.
As mentioned, the assembly included unveiling the new Hillsboro City Schools veterans memorial outside the new auditorium.
“I’m just ecstatic to be able to say we’re doing that to represent all of our students or our employees that have served in the military,” Davis said. “It’s a big step for kids to make that choice, so we want to celebrate that.
“Like I said at the induction, we have ‘honoring the past, embracing the future’ in the front of our high school when you walk in with the old building and the new building. That saying is what we put on the monument because we’re honoring those who have served in the past that gave their lives, and we’re also celebrating and embracing the future with our new kids going into that.”
Davis thanked Rhoades for her “outstanding job” leading the veterans memorial project, including helping determine the right placement for it. They eventually settled on a spot outside the auditorium entrance that had originally been planned as a green space.
“This has been about a year and a half process,” Davis said. “The nice part is we’ve got enough space that we’re going to be adding to it. This is just the first piece.
“We’ve got the monument out there. We’ve got a whole wall that we’d like to add a mural to. We have enough space on both sides to continue to add different pieces. There’s also room where we could put benches for people to sit out there and kind of see the monument.”
Davis also thanked Justin Harsha of Harsha Monuments and HHS student CJ Kemper for their work in creating the monument.
“CJ Kemper was one who helped make the monument, which is awesome,” Davis said. “Him being in the senior class, he got to work on it, he got to help engrave it, so that’s a nice piece.”
Along with HHS graduates and employees who are veterans, Davis said that the monument was designed with current Hillsboro students and alumni that are entering the military in mind as well.
“We’re very excited about this [monument] because it is a big deal for our kids, and it is a big decision,” he said. “It’s a big decision for not only them and their families, but for our community as well. That’s where it’s a Hillsboro City Schools, not just Hillsboro [monument].
“It’s our students, and it’s also thanking our employees that went into the military as well.”
In fact, four HHS students who have already enlisted in the military were recognized during the ceremony — Dakota Ballein (Army), Bennett Everhart (Army), Xander Hardin (Navy) and Joseph Short (Navy) — as were district employees who served in the military. Among those was board member and former educator Jerry Walker, who was invited to help unveil the monument.
Davis said presenters during the ceremony included students Madison Hensley, Breanna Karnes, Sinai Roberts and Jacob Smith. (Another presenter, Riley Barton, was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness.) Students Ethan Kirk and Garen Ryan played taps with members of the Highland County Honor Guard, followed by the 21-gun salute, which Davis said was a “touching moment.”
“We’ve heard nothing but positives from it,” Davis said. “Everybody asks, ‘Why don’t you take off for Veterans Day?’ If we were not at school, the kids would miss that. The piece of being in school for Veterans Day, to have [veterans] come into our building to tell them thank you, I think is a huge piece. If they weren’t there, it’d be just another day off, and they’d miss that.”
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According to Hillsboro High School guidance counselor Jessica Rhoades, the Veterans Day ceremony was held Nov. 11 in the new high school auditorium.
“The veterans ceremony was intended to recognize and celebrate our community veterans, veteran staff members and current enlisted seniors that have taken the oath to serve,” Rhoades told The Highland County Press. “This ceremony was extra special because we unveiled our new veterans monument to symbolize our past, fallen, current and future veterans.
“We take pride in ‘honoring the past while embracing the future,’ which is a theme surrounding many aspects of Hillsboro City Schools. We plan to add additions to the veterans monument area each year. Plans include flags, benches and possibly a wall mural. The monument can be found near the entrance of the new auditorium.”
During his report to the Hillsboro City Schools Board of Education Nov. 15, superintendent Tim Davis called the Veterans Day assembly “the biggest” event held by the district “in a long time.”
“One, we got to have it in the new auditorium, and the other is we got to invite our veterans back in the building,” Davis said.
To cut down on the number of individuals in the room due to the pandemic, this year’s assembly was limited to high school seniors and area veterans in attendance, while the program was live streamed for all the other classes to watch, according to Davis.
As mentioned, the assembly included unveiling the new Hillsboro City Schools veterans memorial outside the new auditorium.
“I’m just ecstatic to be able to say we’re doing that to represent all of our students or our employees that have served in the military,” Davis said. “It’s a big step for kids to make that choice, so we want to celebrate that.
“Like I said at the induction, we have ‘honoring the past, embracing the future’ in the front of our high school when you walk in with the old building and the new building. That saying is what we put on the monument because we’re honoring those who have served in the past that gave their lives, and we’re also celebrating and embracing the future with our new kids going into that.”
Davis thanked Rhoades for her “outstanding job” leading the veterans memorial project, including helping determine the right placement for it. They eventually settled on a spot outside the auditorium entrance that had originally been planned as a green space.
“This has been about a year and a half process,” Davis said. “The nice part is we’ve got enough space that we’re going to be adding to it. This is just the first piece.
“We’ve got the monument out there. We’ve got a whole wall that we’d like to add a mural to. We have enough space on both sides to continue to add different pieces. There’s also room where we could put benches for people to sit out there and kind of see the monument.”
Davis also thanked Justin Harsha of Harsha Monuments and HHS student CJ Kemper for their work in creating the monument.
“CJ Kemper was one who helped make the monument, which is awesome,” Davis said. “Him being in the senior class, he got to work on it, he got to help engrave it, so that’s a nice piece.”
Along with HHS graduates and employees who are veterans, Davis said that the monument was designed with current Hillsboro students and alumni that are entering the military in mind as well.
“We’re very excited about this [monument] because it is a big deal for our kids, and it is a big decision,” he said. “It’s a big decision for not only them and their families, but for our community as well. That’s where it’s a Hillsboro City Schools, not just Hillsboro [monument].
“It’s our students, and it’s also thanking our employees that went into the military as well.”
In fact, four HHS students who have already enlisted in the military were recognized during the ceremony — Dakota Ballein (Army), Bennett Everhart (Army), Xander Hardin (Navy) and Joseph Short (Navy) — as were district employees who served in the military. Among those was board member and former educator Jerry Walker, who was invited to help unveil the monument.
Davis said presenters during the ceremony included students Madison Hensley, Breanna Karnes, Sinai Roberts and Jacob Smith. (Another presenter, Riley Barton, was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness.) Students Ethan Kirk and Garen Ryan played taps with members of the Highland County Honor Guard, followed by the 21-gun salute, which Davis said was a “touching moment.”
“We’ve heard nothing but positives from it,” Davis said. “Everybody asks, ‘Why don’t you take off for Veterans Day?’ If we were not at school, the kids would miss that. The piece of being in school for Veterans Day, to have [veterans] come into our building to tell them thank you, I think is a huge piece. If they weren’t there, it’d be just another day off, and they’d miss that.”
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