CCSD : Guest Reader Surprises Daughter Upon Return From Duty

Press release from Cherokee County School District:

Friday, August 13, 2021

Kaili realizes the guest reader is her dad, who has been away for the last two months training cadets out of state.

Carmel ES second-grader Kaili Woodburn has been hugging a "daddy bear" the last two months while her father was training cadets three states away, but today she got to hug the real thing when Lt. Col. Woodburn slipped into the media center to surprise his daughter and read to her class.

Lt. Col. Clifford Woodburn, who has served 22 years now with the U.S. Army, is a professor of military science at Georgia Tech and has been out of state conducting trainings since June. Principal Kim Hagood worked with his wife, Dannette, to arrange a surprise visit for their daughter at the school. Kaili grinned in surprise and waved at her dad when the guest reader was introduced, then ran to give him a hug. Lt. Col. Woodburn talked with the class about his military service and answered several questions from the students-- including whether girls can be soldiers (to which he replied "Yes, and we need more of them!"). He read the children's book "The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be" by Joanna Gaines.

This press release was produced by Cherokee County School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.