ESE Veterans Day Grand Marshal
Jennifer Fitch, ESE Speech Pathologist and HHS graduate, leads the school's Veterans Day Parade as grand marshal.
 

Students and staff at Eagle Springs Elementary honored veterans with a campus drive-thru car parade on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The parade, consisting of veterans in a caravan, was greeted by cheering staff, students, and members of the community along the parade route which wound through the Eagle Springs campus.

Jennifer Fitch, a speech pathologist at Eagle Springs Elementary, was chosen as grand marshal to lead the parade. She served four years in the U.S. Army, having been deployed to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom as a chemical operations specialist. 

Jennifer Fitch and Ernie the Eagle
Jennifer Fitch poses with ESE mascot Ernie the Eagle shortly before the school’s Veterans Day parade.

Ms. Fitch is appreciative of the support the community has shown to veterans. 

“It’s an honor to be recognized for my service and I’m even more flattered that I was chosen to lead today’s parade,” Ms. Fitch said.

Ms. Fitch, a graduate of Humble High School, decided to join the Army when a recruiter visited her campus. 

Due to COVID-19, the school moved the event outdoors in the form of a car parade. Until now, the parade had never taken place outside. 

“Every year we welcome over a hundred veterans in for breakfast, a music program, and a parade in our hallways,” April Maldonado, Eagle Springs Elementary Principal, said. “This year with COVID, we had to reimagine how we were going to do that in a way that was safe.”

Ms. Fitch proudly led the caravan of veterans through the crowds of waving children and teachers as veterans, members of the Humble ISD Police Department, and the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office, followed.

The Eagle Springs staff also produced a video to pay tribute to the school community’s veterans. ESE Veterans Day 2020

ESE Caravan
Vehicles adorned with American flags line up for the ESE Veterans Day parade. Veterans, ESE families, Humble ISD Police, and the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office all participated in the parade.