At the Park

Honoring Our Heroes

Local Veteran and Teacher Shares First-Hand Account of Service to Students

Jai´Lynn Phillips, Social Media Editor

November 10, 2025

Students hold the flag at the Veterans Day assembly to honor our community of Veterans.

An assembly was held on Monday, November 10th at Wheeling Park High School in the school gym to the entire school population. An important speaker came to visit Wheeling Park, Ms. Tiffany Barnes, to share her experience as a veteran in our community.

Ms. Barnes stands with Mrs. Robbins at the assembly after a moving account of Barnes’ experience in active duty. (Jai´Lynn Phillips)

Mrs. Tiffany Barnes is the current Teacher of the Year for the state of West Virginia, and is a two-time Iraq War Veteran.

Students pledged alligance to the flag together and saw proper flag ettiquette on display.

Flag etiquette dictates that the flag should be flown with respect, never touching the ground or water, and not used as clothing, drapery, or for advertising. When displayed, it should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously, with the union (stars) in the upper-left position from the observer’s perspective. The flag should also be lit at night and properly folded before storage.

Each of the colors on the flag has a meaning: Red: valor and bravery. White: purity and innocence. Blue: vigilance, perseverance, and justice.

Mrs. Robbins wants our students to understand that veterans are important in our lives and our community, how they’re impacts by what they do and what they impact for us.

Thomas Burns plays taps during the assembly. (Jai´Lynn Phillips)

“I love the fact that I can help spread awareness and share my love for the military and veterans and supporting veterans,” said Mrs. Robbins.

Our resident military liason SSG. Andrea Gump was unable to attend the assembly but sent a statement as a veteran and honoring her newest recruits. Staff Sargent Andrea Gump is an alumni and current member of the military.

Gump is a member of the West Virginia Army Guard, she received an email from an Army National Guard recruiter when she was in college. She enlisted about 30 days later. She went to Kent State University within 3 years, immediately following graduation at Kent State in 2018.

SSA. Andrea Gump volunteered for deployment overseas for a combat deployment to Iraq and a deployment to Kuwait. In 2020, she came back from deployment and she started to report news during covid, since she took this role she recruited over 30 people to become a Veteran.

“It’s really cool that the National Army Guard given me this life to not only help myself but to help others and that’s truly what’s it all about for me,” said SSA Andrea Gump.

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About the Contributor

Jai´Lynn Phillips, Social Media Editor

JaiLynn is a junior at Wheeling Park High School. She is a first year social media editor for The Park Press She has been writing on The Park Press for two years. She has been doing All Star Cheer for ICE for four years in Washington, PA. Her favorite things are hitting zero deductions at cheer competitions to the help of hitting zero thanks to her sweet coach for trying her hardest to make her teams dream big. She loves writing things, her favorite thing to do with the newspaper is getting to know what’s going on around the school. She has been writing since the 7th grade from Warwood and she really enjoys it.