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School invites U. S. troops for field day
Story and photos by U. S. Army Spc. Samantha Parks 4th Public Affairs Detachment
What originally started as a day of question-andanswer between U. S. troops and school children quickly evolved into a day of fun, laughter and sports. Liaison Monitoring Team Four visited Kenan Halimi School May 30 to spend the day with the children, participating in activities like soccer, ping-pong, basketball and dancing.
“ The kids were really excited,” said U. S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles Hipple, the LMT 4 noncommissioned officer in charge and Pittsburgh native.“ They were dancing for us, playing football, basketball and ping-pong. It was a really good interaction between KFOR and the students and faculty here.”
Hipple said though the children will run you ragged playing all of the games, the day went very well.
LMT 4 was joined by U. S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Sheryl Lyon, Multinational Battle Group-East CSM and native of Tompkinsville, Ky.
“ I came to visit the school with the LMTs, at their invitation, to see a little bit of the countryside and a little bit of the communities,” Lyon said.“ I got to meet with the director [ of the school ] and I was able to ask him a lot of questions about how their school systems run. It has been very informative for me.”
Lyon spent the morning touring the school and meeting the faculty before being taught a dance by the children. She said she had a blast and that dancing with the children was the most memorable part of the day.
“ The kids are wonderful,” Lyon said.“ They want to laugh and talk and have a good time. They are letting us dance with them and learn their dances and showing us a lot of things, so it’ s really good.”
U. S. Army Spc. Stanley Walker, a soldier with LMT 4 and native of Brentwood, N. Y., said they were out as a liaison team, but got to have fun interacting with the kids, building relationships and just getting to know the local community.
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