BALTIMORE — Student-athletes from Baltimore high schools spent a day with a few veterans and family members of veterans at the Under Armour House in East Baltimore.
Like Jenine Melton, an Army veteran from Baltimore County who served two tours in Iraq. She’s also a gold star sister and wears a dog tag with her late brother’s photo.
“When you meet a veteran, what do you say?” she asked the students. “Thank you for your service.”
The students are members of Under Armour’s Student Athlete Leadership Council. They meet monthly with mentors and learn about character building.
This month, they worked on a service project. They made thank-you cards, packed care kits, and put together blankets for patients at the local V.A. hospital.
“This opportunity of making blankets and giving back is big,” says Darrell Smith, a junior at Frederick Douglass High School. “Because they may do a lot for us, but what are we doing for them?”
The teens also learned about the meaning of Veterans Day and why the holiday is important to those who have served or are serving, and their families.
“I have a new respect for veterans,” says Payton Stanfield, a junior at Edmonson-Westside High School. “I didn’t understand the impact that they did have on our nation as one. So just to get a little education on it and get my eyes open, I’m very appreciative of that.”
The activity was made possible through the Travis Manion Foundation’s “Character Does Matter” program. Manion, a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, was killed in Iraq in 2007 while saving the lives of wounded Marines.