Iowa Lakes Students Perform For Veterans On Honor Flight

(Estherville, Iowa)  Iowa Lakes Community College students performed as part of a 40-piece band honoring veterans returning from a visit to Washington D.C. Saturday, September 15, 2018, at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

More than 140 veterans spent the day in Washington D.C., and upon their return to Fort Dodge, they received a Hero’s Welcome Ceremony. This ceremony included a band concert that consisted of area volunteer musicians. The students participating from the Iowa Lakes Community College Band included Clayton McGuire, trumpet; Lincoln Larsen, trumpet; Adam Orfield, trumpet; Trevor Zellmer, trombone; Travis Meyer, tenor sax; Jada Duis, clarinet; Jailene Graves, baritone sax; Hannah Van Heuvelen, alto sax; Samantha Harris, trombone; and Kaela Baker, trombone. Instrumental music professor, Carol Ayres Stueven, also played the clarinet for the ceremony.

“It’s always important for our kids to give back to our communities and it’s so cool for them to be able to see how meaningful of an experience this is for these veterans,” Ayres Stueven said. “Many of them came back from wars and were shunned, so for them, this is the hero’s welcome they never got.”

The Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight, one of many similar programs nationwide, helps fly veterans to visit war memorials and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C., at no cost to them. Originally set up for World War II veterans, Honor Flights have since expanded to include those who served in the Korean and Vietnam war eras.

U.S. Army veteran John Priester, also a custodial/maintenance worker at Iowa Lakes Community College, was one of the veterans taking part in Saturday’s flight.

For more information on the music program at Iowa Lakes, visit www.iowalakes.edu/music.

Iowa Lakes Community College students and faculty who honored veterans returning from the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight with a concert Saturday, Sept. 15 at Fort Dodge Regional Airport were, back, from left: Clayton McGuire, Lincoln Larsen, Adam Orfield, Trevor Zellmer and Travis Meyer; and front, from left, Jada Duis, Carol Ayres Stueven, Jailene Graves, Hannah Van Heuvelen, Samantha Harris and Kaela Baker.

Iowa Lakes Community College students and faculty were among those performing marches, patriotic music, and hymns for the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight Saturday, Sept. 15 at Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

For More Information:

Carol Ayres Stueven
Professor, Instrumental Music/Jazz Band
cayres@iowalakes.educreate new email
712-362-7962