The West Forsyth Junior Reserves Officer’s Training Corps (JROTC) and the marching band participated in Winston-Salem’s Veterans Day parade on Saturday Nov. 10.

The marching band led the parade through six blocks of downtown Winston-Salem in their first of three parades this marching season. The Veterans Day parade is a good way for the marching band to show their skills off to the public.

“We do three parades, and they are a fantastic way to support the community and show West is best,” associate band director Phillip Wingfield said.

Because this is the first parade of the season, it marks an end of an era for many senior marching band members.

“I’ll miss lining up with decorated instruments for the parade on fourth and a half street and being able to do something with all the other marching bands in the county,” senior Maryanne Lott said.

Similar to the marching band, the JROTC program has made a tradition of marching in the parade to support the veterans who live in Winston-Salem and the surrounding areas.

“We march every year in the parade, so we can honor all of the veterans in our community,” sophomore Logan Lintz said.

One of the focuses of JROTC is to instill leadership skills and the value of friendly competition. JROTC competes at many events throughout the school year and uses the Veterans Day parade not only to honor veterans, but to practice for these competitions and see how other school’s JROTC programs are doing.

“I went to the parade because it was a good learning experience and it was a lot of fun to see all the other schools who we will be competing against,” junior Cainlee Brewer said.

By marching at the Winston-Salem Veterans Day parade, JROTC and marching band members not only pay their respects to veterans, but also get to prepare for their competition season.