S.C. Lee receives new Adopt-A-School Sign from 62nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

Soldiers from Fort Hood’s 62nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion replaced the Adopt-a-School sign in front of S.C. Lee Junior High School Wednesday afternoon. 
The previous sign, which displayed the name of the unit that adopted the junior high school, had been damaged due to bad weather to the point of no repair during the last part of the 2020-2021 school year. 
Soldiers from the unit and school administrators and staff members gathered Wednesday afternoon for the unveiling of the new sign, which will officially be placed back up in the coming days.
Started in 2004, the Adopt-a-School program continues to bring soldiers and students together in a positive way. Fort Hood’s Adopt-a-School Program partners with nine local school districts: Killeen, Copperas Cove, Lampasas, Gatesville, Florence, Jarrell, Salado, Belton and Temple, according to Tina Smith, School Liaison Officer for the Fort Hood Child and Youth Services. 
“The purpose of the program is for community relations, for soldiers to be able to have a part in the educational development of students in the Greater Fort Hood area,” Smith said. “It is the Army’s belief and III Corps Commanding General’s in particular, that community involvement is essential to the maximum educational development of a child, so soldiers have a lot to offer so that’s why this program is going on.” 
Assistant Principal Stacie Golden had nothing but praise for the program and the soldiers who were part of the Adopt-a-School program. 
“The program is huge to our school,” Golden said. “It brings the community and the school together. One of our big pillars in education is having the school and community connection. We don’t have enough of that, and so having the adoptive unit here, representing so many of our students and what their parents do and having our other students also see the military here and not just being out in a wartime situation but also being regular people here helping out and just being a part of them- they’re great role models for our students, and they come in in so in many different ways that isn’t necessarily military related.” 
This was the first year for Lt. Richard Russ to be part of the Adopt-a-School program with his unit, the 62nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion. 
“I love it,” Russ said. “Just being able to volunteer, help the community out and showing that as soldiers we are more than just- we can help a lot, not just being in uniform but students see us and everything, they will come out and embrace us, so just the ability to know that we are here to support them, and not just what’s in the media.”
CCISD Communications Director Wendy Sledd said that the soldiers from the 62nd ESB were instrumental in the laptop distribution earlier this semester, when the school had to hand out approximately 1,000 laptops to students for the year. The soldiers not only helped hand out the devices but also helped parents and students log in to the devices and the necessary programs, like Schoology. 
The soldiers have also helped greet students in coming back to school and helped with the anti-bullying campaign earlier this month, where campuses across the district competed to win the prize for best decorated campus. 
“I think the anti-bullying campaign is especially significant,” Sledd said. “We participated district-wide in that, and a lot of our units, including this one, were very instrumental in not only helping with the decor because it was a competition, but also mentoring kids and being a role model to students, so we appreciate that.”
Lt. Col. Ivan Alvarado, battalion commander for the 62nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion, spoke briefly to the group of administrators, staff, soldiers and media that were present at S.C. Lee Wednesday about what the program means to the unit. 
Alvarado took command in June 2020, coming from Maryland to Fort Hood during the height of COVID, when there were restrictions in place for capacity and visitors and more. These restrictions affected how everyone was able to interact with one another, especially in regard to the soldiers with their adopted schools. 
“Coming into this school year, when I met with [Assistant Principal] Miss. Stacie [Golden] and [Principal] Mr. Brian [Jost], just an opportunity for us to get back into the things we were doing before COVID and doing them not only right but doing them well, so I picked a remarkable officer from my organization, Lt. Richard Russ, to really head our efforts into being more integrated and reinvigorating our participation with S.C. Lee Junior High School,” Alvarado said. “Part of that too is the branding piece and making sure that we’re advertising who we are to the local community, so as parents come and drop their kids off and the teachers and administrative portion of the school come and leave work every day that they know upon entering and leaving this parking lot that 62nd ESB is the sponsor for this school, and we take great pride in what we do and we will continue to do it well.”