Honor Flight fundraiser set for JLHS senior, Air Force vet

Roger Sims, Journal Staff
3 hours ago
2 min read

***Jayhawk-Linn senior Clay Nichols will be the "guardian" for Art Grigsby on the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., in June. Grigsby is a U.S. Air Force veteran. (Submitted photo)***

By Roger Sims, Journal staff

MOUND CITY – A Jayhawk-Linn High School senior has been given an opportunity to partipate in this summer's Honor Flight program. Clay Nichols will be a student "guardian" for Arthur "Art" Grigsby from Prescott.

Student guardians are assigned to veterans on the trip to assist them as they attend events on the two-day trip. The guardians and their families as well as fellow students typically raise funds to help pay for the trip. That includes roundtrip airline fares, lodging and meals.

The opportunity to participate in the June trip to Washington, D.C., comes through the program run through the Central Heights program, which is coordinated by Tom Horstick, former vice principal at JLHS and former principal at Central Heights.

Central Heights has several schools participate in its program, including Prairie View, which will sponsor five veterans for the fifth time this year.

The trip starts early one morning and ends late the next day. This year veterans and their guardians and group sponsors will arrive at Kansas City International Airport a 5 a.m. on June 3. Following two whirlwind days of touring memorials, attending ceremonies, being toasted at dinners, the group will touchdown again in Kansas City about 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 4, to be greeted by a veterans group.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Grigsby has been a big supporter of local youth, according to Stephanie Nichols, student improvement services coordinator at the Jayhawk district office and Clay's mother.

"He attends a lot of sporting events at Pleasanton and Jayhawk and has helped with Wednesday night All Stars at First Baptist Church for several years," she said.

Stephanie Nichols, who as school counselor was instrumental in creating the Honor Flight program at Prairie View, said that she hoped this initial flight will open the door for a larger program at JLHS. She said that early in preparing for June's flight there were more openings but other schools snapped them up.

Supporters of sending the pair to the nation's capitol are holding a fundraiser from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 25. The event includes a concert of local artists, with a bake sale and handcrafted auction items.