Shepherd Alumni and a Current Students Take the Trip of a Lifetime

I recently received an email from a former student and Shepherd High School Alumnus, from the class of 2001.  He shared with me information about a trip members of his family were planning in recognition of his grandfather's 90th birthday.  His email was a testament to his grandfather's sacrifice during WWII and description of a wonderful trip that some of his family will take to celebrate this special birthday.

The student is Derick Brumley and with his permission I am sharing his information with you.  

"...On October 21st, 2012, my Grandfather, John Priest (a graduate of Shepherd in 1941), will be turning 90 years old. To help celebrate this important milestone, the family has begun preparations to return him to Europe from September 24th – October 9th, for the first time since the end of WWII in 1945; that’s 67 years! Once there, he’ll retrace the footsteps of his battalion, the 1277th Combat Engineers, 1st Platoon, 3rd Squad of C Company.

Joined by his son, Kenneth Priest (a graduate of Shepherd in 1967), two grandsons, Kevin Priest and Derick

 Brumley (a graduate of Shepherd in 2001), and one great grandson, Walker Priest (current student at Shepherd), our party will fly across the pond on September 24, 2012. Another grandson, Kirk Priest, currently living in Berlin, Germany will meet us in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Over the course of two weeks, we will roughly follow the path that Grandfather and the other soldiers took across France, Germany and Austria in 1944/45.

We've created a blog for family and friends to follow us virtually on this trip of a lifetime (http://johnrpriest.tumblr.com/) and we're also in the process of working with the Morning Sun for a story. 

It is a unique opportunity for my family and to honor the sacrifices that he and so many others made. I know Grandfather has participated in the veterans ceremonies at Shepherd in the past (since Taylor and Walker Priest are current students) and maybe this veterans day will be a unique opportunity for him to be involved again. If anything else, I just wanted to let you know because I believe it is another small testament to the caliber of students that come from Shepherd..."

Derick is correct.  There is a tremendous number of high quality and high caliber students who come through Shepherd Schools.  I am proud to be alumni as well as acting principal.  I hope many of you will follow this trip at the link provided.  Thanks, Derick!