The 8th grade English classes at Mt. Pleasant Jr. High School welcomed US Army Veteran Sgt. Shane Weaver of Longview as their guest speaker for Veteran’s Day, Friday, November 11.

Mrs. Amber Counts, MPJHS English teacher, said the veteran was invited to speak to the English classes for the day to help teach the students about the true meaning of a veteran and what it means to our society and its citizens.

“Sgt. Weaver has a magnificent story to share with kids of this age, as he had a troubled youth and chose the army as a way to make his life better,” Counts said. “As a pre-lesson, students received a lesson in questioning for interviews, after which they compiled questions for the veteran. Sgt. Weaver took the time to look through those questions and attempted to answer some in his slide show presentation which included many wonderful pictures of basic training, and some of his deployments, and then answered questions throughout the day.”

Sgt. Weaver spoke to seven classes during the day, and brought many photos and memorabilia for the students to enjoy.

Sgt. Weaver said “It was an honor to serve my country. The opportunities it has afforded me has enabled me to do things like reach out to younger generations and teach them about what it means to be a soldier. It is an honor to be able to continue my service in any possible way.”

Pictured: Sgt. Shane Weaver, US Army Veteran, stands with some of the students of the Mount Pleasant Junior High before serving as the guest speaker on November 11. Pictured are (l-r) Christian Peek, Jesus Barrera, Rapheal Garcia Ramirez, Sgt. Weaver, Ethan Cota, Sabrina Salazar, Sebastian Lorenzo, Jordan Kunkel, Jennifer Montufar, and Mauricio Sandoval.