Centenary archers are not afraid to raise the flag | News

The Centennial High School Archery Team will create a “field of flags” on the Centennial High School lawn starting at 2 p.m. Sunday to commemorate Veterans Day.

The flags will be supplemented with a banner honoring veterans in preparation for the Veterans Day holiday on Monday.

Archery team members and coaches will be joined by local military representatives and veterans. The public, especially veterans, can come watch the flag field being created and join in a short final ceremony that will include an invocation honoring veterans and the playing of the national anthem.

Coaches Ryan and Heather Miller came up with the idea as a team community service project because the archery team has several alumni who are currently Marines and one current senior archer also plans to join the military after graduation.

“With so many local veterans from Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding area, we wanted to teach our student-athletes the importance of thanking veterans for their service and sacrifice, as well as appreciating what the U.S. flag represents,” Heather Miller said. “We thought this hands-on activity would engage our youth in a meaningful way.”

In addition to excelling in archery, archers are involved in many community projects, including raising thousands of dollars each year to fight childhood cancer. Money raised is donated annually to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, the national charity of the National Archery in Schools Program.

For more information about the event, contact Heather Miller at [email protected].

The archery team consists of 103 ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th grade male and female archers who attend Centennial High School.

— Dave Hinton

Dave Hinton is editor of the Our County section of the News-Gazette and former editor of the Rantoul Press. He can be reached at [email protected].