187th Medical Battalion signs Adopt-A-School charter with Davenport High School | Item
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – The 187th Medical Battalion has signed with Davenport High School as part of Fort Sam Houston’s Adopt-A-School program. Lt. Col. Dennis Segui, commander of the 187th Medical Battalion signed the charter Mr. Matthew DeLoach, principal of Davenport High School, during a ceremony held on the school campus March 5, 2022, in conjunction with the Davenport High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) two-mile color fun run.
Present for the signing were Maj. Gen. Dennis LeMaster, Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence, Mr. Joseph Bray, Civilian Assistant to the Secretary of the Army of Texas (South), Col. Marc Welde, commander of the 32nd Medical Brigade, Commanding Sgt. Maj. Gilberto Colon, 32nd Medical Brigade command sergeant major, and Command Sgt. Maj. Deanna Carson, command sergeant major of the 187th MED BN. Also present were administrators, teachers and parents from Davenport, as well as cadres from the 187th BN.
MEDCoE’s participation in the Fort Sam Houston Adopt-A-School program is not new, all MEDCoE battalions and higher units have adopted at least one elementary school they support. The Davenport charter, however, marks the first high school to be adopted by MEDCoE in recent years.
The partnership with MEDCoE and Davenport High School began when the school invited LeMaster to be the guest speaker at their Veterans Day event in November 2021. Afterwards, LeMaster met with students from Davenport Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and asked what he could do to deepen the relationship. This began the process of MEDCoE working with the 187th MED BN to establish an Adopt-A-School charter with the school located in the Comal Independent School District.
“JROTC programs produce good citizens for the United States of America, and that’s what it’s fundamentally about,” LeMaster said while addressing the audience at the signing ceremony. “Great opportunities for our young people to move forward and progress and achieve their goals and dreams.”
Located at FM 3009 and Schoenthal Road in the Garden Ridge area, Davenport High School opened in August 2020. School Principal DeLoach said that when the school opened, one of the goals was to make Davenport a community center. “This charter helps accomplish that goal,” DeLoach said. “We’re involving our community more and growing, so it’s great today.”
The purpose of the charter is to outline the terms and areas of responsibility for establishing and maintaining a cooperative effort between Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston units and San Antonio area school districts to improve the citizenship and learning experiences of children in elementary, middle and high school. The program has three components: unit-school partnership, tutoring program and leadership program. Sponsoring Units conduct regular school visits, coordinate student mentoring and tutoring, help organize school visits to Fort Sam Houston. The 187th Medical Battalion has an existing charter with Briscoe Elementary School, making Davenport High School their second school under the Adopt-A-School program.
The 187th MED BN is a diverse unit responsible for the Army Trauma Training Detachment, U.S. Army Medical Department Student Detachment, Leader Training Department, MEDCoE Graduate School, and Department of operational medicine.
“We are honored to begin a journey of unity and partnership,” Segui said of the school charter. “We stand here before you, committed to this relationship for years to come, charged with carrying both organizations to incredible heights on many fronts. The charter we are signing today symbolizes our mutual commitment to our community bringing together the Davenport’s “Wolves” and the 187th “Wildcats”.
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