Pike County High School took time from its weekly pep rally Friday to remember the fallen heroes of 9/11 and recognize everyday heroes who go about their tasks quietly and without public recognition.

Dr. Mike Hall, PCHS principal, said there are those who put their lives on the line every day in service to the community.

“Some of them are among us,” he said. “Four graduates of Pike County High School, Jeremy Price, Jimmy Evans, J.J. Burkett and Anthony Kilpatrick, played a major role in assisting victims of a recent bus accident near Meridian, Mississippi and they have also served a year in Iraq. They are heroes. They are the kind of heroes who go to work each day and serve the public quietly. We owe them a great deal of gratitude.”

The Pike County High School varsity cheerleaders recognized heroes in their families who are dedicated to community service.

Two deputies with the Pike County Sheriff’s Department were recognized as community heroes by members of their families. Randi Childs’ hero is her dad, Kevin Childs, and Katie Powell’s uncle Loren Williams is her hero.

Jerry Reynolds, a friend of Shayla Terry’s family, is a volunteer fire fighter as is Liberty Kilpatrick’s stepfather, Charley Copeland. They were recognized for their contributions to the community. LaShonda Rodgers’s aunt, Jessica Coleman, represented the many men and women in the military who are willing to leave family and home in service to their country. Coleman is serving in the Army. “We want to take a few minutes from the pep rally to recognize our community heroes and all of those that we depend on every day for our safety and security,” Terry said. “We also wanted to remember those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.” Pike County High School football coach, Eddie Stephenson, closed the program with a reminder to the students that the freedoms that Americans have were bought at a price. “Someone paid a price for this,” he said, indicating the opportunities that students have to an receive an education, to play sports and to gather to remember and honor heroes.”