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CHAMPAIGN — The Centennial High School archery team is creating a “field of flags” on the Centennial High School lawn starting at 2 p.m. Sunday to commemorate Veterans Day.

The flags will be accompanied by a banner honoring veterans in preparation for Veterans Day on Monday.

Archery team members and coaches will be joined by local military representatives and veterans. The public, especially veterans, are invited to come watch the creation of the field of flags and join a brief closing ceremony, which will include a message honoring veterans and the national anthem.

Coaches Ryan and Heather Miller came up with the idea for a team community service project because the archery team has several alumni who are currently active duty Marines, and a current senior archer is considering also to join the army after graduation.

“With so many local veterans from Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding areas, we wanted to teach our student-athletes the importance of thanking veterans for their service and sacrifices as well as appreciating what the American flag represents” , said Heather Miller. “We believed that this hands-on activity would engage our young people in a meaningful way. »

In addition to excelling at archery, archers participate in numerous community service projects, including raising thousands of dollars each year to fight childhood cancer. Money raised is donated each year to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, the national philanthropy for the National School Archery Program.

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

The archery team is made up of 103 archers in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 who are students at 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 contacted at [email protected].