{"id":212222,"date":"2026-11-11T21:30:55","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T02:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=212222"},"modified":"2026-11-11T21:31:03","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T02:31:03","slug":"vwhs-hosts-veterans-day-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/11\/11\/vwhs-hosts-veterans-day-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"VWHS hosts Veterans Day celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Van Wert High School welcomed local veterans, their families, and community members to its annual Veterans Day Assembly on Wednesday,&nbsp; at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. Coffee and snacks were served in the lobby before the program, which included student-created videos and performances by the high school choirs. The choirs sang the National Anthem and an America medley featuring \u201cMy Country, \u2019Tis of Thee\u201d and \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guest speaker Colleen Wiley, a 1987 Van Wert High School graduate, spoke about her years at the former high school on Crawford Street and the teachers, friends, and community that helped shape her. She and VWHS secretary Shelley Smith joined the military together in November 1989, attended boot camp together, and both served in the Army Reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"362\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Veterans-Day-2026-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-212224\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Van Wert High School choir students sang the National Anthem and an American medley. Veterans enjoyed Wednesday&#8217;s program and were able to chat before and after. <em>Photos submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Wiley said she did not fully understand the sacrifices behind her freedoms as a student. She encouraged students to help others, show respect, and be responsible citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t have to wear a uniform to honor veterans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Principal Chuck Rollins thanked Wiley, Mrs. Switzer for organizing the assembly, the student speakers, Ms. Bloomfield and the choirs for their performances, and Mrs. Baer and the media arts classes for producing the videos. He asked students to appreciate their freedoms and find ways to serve others throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo all of our veterans, on behalf of the entire Van Wert High School family, thank you for your service, your sacrifice, and your commitment to protecting the freedoms we enjoy,\u201d Rollins said.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/VWHS-Veterans-Day-1-2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-212225\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/VWHS-Veterans-Day-2026-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-212226\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VW independent staff\/submitted information Van Wert High School welcomed local veterans, their families, and community members to its annual Veterans Day Assembly on Wednesday,&nbsp; at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center. Coffee and snacks were served in the lobby before the program, which included student-created videos and performances by the high school choirs. The choirs sang [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-11-19 00:53:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212227,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212222\/revisions\/212227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}