It’s not easy on most days to get hundreds of high school students to sit in complete silence, freely giving someone their undivided attention.
But Friday afternoon apparently was not most days.
The Kern High School District’s Career Technical Education Center in southwest Bakersfield hosted local military veterans who, just days before Veterans Day, shared their views and experiences with a crowd of students from multiple campuses Friday afternoon.
For 17-year-old Bakersfield High School senior Cody Trotter, listening to the aging veterans share their experiences gave him a level of understanding he said he had never quite grasped before.
“I didn’t fully understand what veterans go through and how much they mean to people,” he said. “But after listening to these veterans, I feel like I have a better understanding.”
The BHS student said he’s thought about the military as a possible direction in his own future, but first he wants to attend college.
“My sister, my brother, my dad and my grandpa, they all served,” he said. “So, it’s really a military family.”
Walter Suazo, a digital marketing and media design instructor at CTEC, is also an advisor for the American Spirit Team, the student team that conceived of and organized Friday’s events.
“We want to honor these veterans,” he said. “It’s the sacrifices made by these men and women that protect our freedoms, and we want to take part and celebrate and honor them with these types of ceremonies.”
The day was broken into both a morning ceremony and an afternoon interview session, similar to a panel discussion.
Both events were organized and led by CTEC students, members of the SkillsUSA American Spirit team, which is dedicated to promoting patriotism, community service and student leadership.
Joining them were students from the Digital Marketing & Media Design program, who worked on providing event coverage, photography and video production as part of the hands-on learning CTEC is known for.
Well before 8 a.m., students began gathering in front of the CTEC campus off Old River Road, south of Panama Lane.
Honored guests included U.S. Army veteran Anthony Noble, who served from 2005 to 2011; Navy veteran David Nelson, who served six years; Army vet Ricardo Mejia, who served four years; and Raymond Hallmark, who served eight years in the Coast Guard.
The afternoon session, held on CTEC’s expansive second-floor, included the panel-style interview where four other veterans shared stories about their service and experiences and their thoughts about the challenges and benefits of military service.
Colin Cloud, a Frontier High School senior and a SkillsUSA American Spirit team member, led the discussion with several interview questions, including what caused the men to enter the armed forces and the final question, what Veterans Day means to them.
U.S. Air Force veteran Derek Tisinger served 38 years.
“When I was about 15, my dad told me, he said, ‘Hey, when you’re 18, you’ve got to move out.’
“A lot of people thought that was kind of mean, but I’ll tell you what, it was one of the best things my dad said to me,” he said, “because I had to plan my future.”
He saw an opportunity to go to college via the Vietnam GI Bill, and he took it.
“I actually joined the military when I was 17,” he told the crowd of students. “And it’s one of the best choices I’ve ever made.”
Mark Quinn, who served in both the Navy and the Army, said the military paid for his university education, a life-changing benefit that allowed him to earn a direct commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, where he served for 25 years, and retired as a full colonel.
Another guest, Martin Jimenez, served 17 years in the U.S. Army. “I’m not a talker,” Jimenez said.
It was U.S. Army infantryman Isaac Monsibais who was the only one of the four who saw combat in Vietnam. It was clear by his demeanor and his comments that more than 50 years after his tour of combat in the early 1970s, he came home a changed man.
“All these guys volunteered. I was drafted,” Monsibais told the students.
By time he was there, he said of Vietnam, “I was the grunt, the guy with the gun walking through the jungle … but I was lucky to come home. I think around a little over 58,000 of us didn’t make it.”
Monsibais remembered his grandfather telling him he didn’t have to go, that he would send him to Mexico where the younger man would be safe.
“I said, ‘No, grandpa, I gotta go. It’s my duty. I’m an American and I’ve got to fight for my country.’
“I did. I’m glad I went,” he said. “I didn’t want to go. I was scared, but I’m glad I went. I’m glad I got to come home. I kept telling myself, ‘I’m going to make it home. I’m going to make it home.'”
Later he told the teens that war taught him about futility and loss.
“I wish there was never, ever another war,” he said. “That’s what war taught me.”
When Monsibais was asked what Veterans Day means to him, he paused as his throat seemed to close up. Tears sprang to his eyes and for a few silent moments, he couldn’t speak.
Every eye was on him.
“Veterans Day gives me a chance to remember,” he said, “those who didn’t make it home.”