Austin High School’s homecoming week, including today’s downtown parade, is focused on community service and honoring a soldier and former student who died in a helicopter crash off the coast of Hawaii.
The Alabama high school principal, Melissa Scott said football players and cheerleaders spent Friday morning at six of the district’s elementary schools greeting students, opening car doors and helping them get to class.
“It’s about letting our student-athletes know they need to reach out and give back to the community,” she said.
Scott said Austin’s sophomore class is honoring 1994 graduate Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brian Woeber, who was among five to die after their helicopter went down during a training exercise off the coast of Hawaii on Aug. 15.
Wesley Lowman, a sophomore at Austin who was recently named to the State Superintendent Student Advisory Council, said Woeber’s nephew is a member of the sophomore class.
In addition to decorating their homecoming float to honor Woeber, the students are selling T-shirts, with part of the proceeds going to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization that helps wounded veterans and their families.
Woeber, a married father of three, had served in Afghanistan and Egypt.
Austin’s band will be wearing ribbons during the parade and homecoming game Friday to honor Woeber’s memory.
(c)2017 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)
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