Yucca Middle School tries to connect with military alumni

Yucca Middle School wants to brag about their students.

The public relations committee at Yucca, one of two junior high schools in Clovis, were amid planning for Veterans Day when the idea came to mind to have a “brag board.”

The board would display photographs, names, ranks and locations of former Yucca students who are active duty or retired military.

“We knew we wanted to have a celebration of our veterans,” teacher Ann Sharp said. “This is a way to celebrate veterans and showcase where our students have gone. It’s connecting our future and our past.”

For Veterans Day, Nov. 11, Yucca faculty will invite military personnel and veterans to talk to students about what they’ve experienced.

“A lot of our kids don’t understand the importance of the military,” Sharp said. “They know there are military students in their classes but they don’t know what we have because of what their parents do.”

Principal Mitzi Estes said the board provides a link.

“It provides a bridge to let the community know, with the base, that we really are thankful for what they do,” Estes said.

Sharp said the project can also help educate students on the military as a career.

“We’re trying to educate kids and we want them to understand what they can accomplish when they put their mind to it,” Sharp said.

The project is also a way to bring the community into the school.

“We want to have an open door policy,” Sharp said.

Sharp said the board will feature military personnel at first but it may be expanded to include students who have gone on to become successful in some other way.

“We chose military first, because this is what this area is all about,” she said.

Sharp may include Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corp students also to show “where we’re going.”

“It’s a great idea to recognize former students who are serving our country,” Estes said.

Estes said she has reached out to Yucca parents via e-mail asking them for submissions.

“This allows us to put names and faces and experiences together,” Estes said.

Estes said the board will show current students what former students have done to pursue their career and will provide examples of good character.

The board will be placed near the “Wall of Fame,” which displays student’s achievements in the school’s main hallway near the office.