Greene County High School welcomed local veterans and members of the public to the return of their in person Veterans Day program Thursday morning.

Following free coffee and pastries served in the Ram Restaurant to those veterans that attended, the formal program then took place in the auditorium. The event kicked off with the choir students that auditioned for all-state, as they sang the National Anthem. After a poem that was read by Senior Class Vice President Lucy Dudley, the high school band performed an armed force medley, featuring the marching songs for each branch of the U.S. military.

Next, was the guest speaker, who was U.S. Army veteran Alexis Stevens, who served from 1997-2004. She talked about her training to speak Arabic, as well as interrogation. During her time in the military, Stevens got to do translation and community building in the country of Kuwait. Then in early 2001, she talked about the time she spent with intelligence and hearing rumors about attacks on the U.S. prior to the events on 9/11. She added, following those early morning attacks on 9/11, after her intelligence unit reacted, she said they prevented further attacks from happening. 

Stevens ended her speech with an important message for the high school students that were in attendance.

“You can go and do anything you want because you live in a free country, in a free world. And you can do that because people volunteered their service, they volunteered their sacrifice. There’s plenty of volunteer services, you can go out into the community today, you can find ways to volunteer, and sacrifice, and give your time, and give your energy, and give your expertise to make the world a better place.”

The program ended with a tribute video and the student body giving recognition to the veterans that attended with applause.