New limestone marker welcomes JH visitors to 'Cobra Country'
Starting this fall, students, sports fans and other visitors to the Jackson Heights school district will be greeted by a large limestone boulder reminding them that they are entering “Cobra Country.”
The limestone rock, measuring about five feet high and nine feet wide, was placed near the entrance to the school grounds in recent days and decorated by former Jackson Heights students, according to Gera Cochren, a JHHS alumna and elementary special education teacher at Jackson Heights who was involved in alumni-led efforts to have the marker installed.
Members of the Jackson Heights Alumni Association received approval from the USD 335 Board of Education in May to have the rock placed at the school’s entrance and decorated to welcome students and visitors to the district. Cochren said the rock was originally found near Hiawatha.
Cochren said that her graduating class was tabbed to host this year’s alumni banquet, and “various activities” were held during the year to raise funds for the banquet. Such activities, she said, included alumni basketball and golf tournaments.
“We had some extra funds in our account, and we wanted to contribute to the school in some way, to help beautify it,” she said. “We were throwing around ideas of what we could do, and we wanted something that was going to be permanent and not need maintenance every year.”
Upon finding out about the limestone boulder, Heights alumni ramped up efforts to get the boulder from Brown County to the school entrance. Ohlsen Construction of Whiting picked up and delivered the boulder, Cochren said, and JHHS alumni Doug and Travis Amon unloaded it.
The etching on the front of the rock — a picture of the JHHS Cobras logo and the words “Welcome to Cobra Country” — were etched by Christopher and Breanne Latham of Wetmore, Cochren said. Breanne Latham is a fourth-grade teacher at Jackson Heights Elementary School.
The finishing touch can be found on the back of the marker, Cochren noted. It’s a quote from longtime JHHS teacher and coach Dave Henry, who died this past June: “A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.”
“When Mr. Henry passed, we wanted to do something to honor him,” Cochren said.
