Sarah Shelander
Editor

St. James and Butterfield-Odin schools hosted Veterans Day Programs on Monday, Nov. 11 morning. Guest speakers for the programs were Colonel Glen E. Christensen of the United States Air Force (St. James program) and Brad Ommodt of the National Guard (Butterfield-Odin program).

Each program had music selections performed by the schools’ bands and choirs. St. James had a special presentation along with Christensen’s speech. Girls State attendees, Keeley Runge, Ellie Stordalen, and Gracie Stevens, performed the flag folding ceremony and explained the meaning of each fold.

Christensen who has served in a number of positions, the most recent being the Chief of the Requirements and Readiness Division and was deployed four times gave his speech on the meaning of putting those the military serves by fighting the ‘bullies’ first. “The first words of the constitution say we the people. So, our loyalty, as service members, is to the people,” said Christensen.

A story from Christensen’s tour in Afghanistan about a little girl and a doll she was gifted by his unit was told. This doll was the first toy she had ever had Christensen said, she brought it everywhere even to school. One day the girl left her doll at the school, which was hit by bullies. After the attack, the doll was found damaged, to show that they were there for the people, Christensen had the doll triaged and taken to the hospital. Instead of taking it to the actual hospital, he called for a new doll exactly like the one last to be sent right away.

“When they asked why did you do that, my answer to that was because she needs to know she matters. As an individual, she matters. We needed to tell her that we will take down bullies and you matter,” said Christensen. “My point in all that is each one of you sitting here matters, which so very important to understand. This leads me to my second to last point life is a team sport I learned that in so many ways in my 31 years in the Airforce. The last thing I leave you with is while we very much appreciate the support you show us on Veterans Day, there are other forms of service. There are those who serve on our police departments, fire departments, and teachers.”