Senior Grant Barnes can confidently say that he has left his mark on every corner of the school, from playing as a defensive end and long snapper for the Gretna Dragons football team to leading as a drum major for the Gretna Marching Band. Barnes is involved in every aspect of student life at GHS. He juggles marching band, football, show choir, powerlifting, bowling, unified bowling and soccer, but ends his day motivated to begin the next one even better.
Despite the challenges of juggling numerous commitments in high school, Barnes remains focused on his lifelong goal to join the U.S. military, serving and protecting his nation and applying everything he has learned in high school to his roles in the U.S. Army.
The busiest time of the year for Barnes is the fall. His day begins early at 6:40 a.m. for band practice, and then he focuses on his academics until 3:20. Immediately after school, he heads to football practice, which often ends at 6 p.m. After that, Barnes gets a slim margin of time at home to study before he has to head back to school for show choir practice starting at 7:30 p.m. It ends two hours later. At the center of this busy schedule is his role as a drum major in the marching band. Barnes and his fellow drum majors help lead the band and create emotion in the music, as well as make the audience feel what the music is supposed to convey. They are also the leaders of the group and the ones who organize and teach their bandmates what to do and where to be.
“During practice and on the field, drum majors are the ones people look to for help,” Barnes said. “I would say this year’s group of drum majors was the best when it came to making the band feel like a family, and that led to us scoring extremely well at all of our competitions and winning our class at State marching band.”
Not only do Barnes and his bandmates see this, but so do the directors. Alexander Woodside, one of the band directors for the Gretna High Marching Band, said that Barnes is the person that everyone, whether they are newer to the program or not, looks up to because he is reliable and focused on the band’s mission.
“He is a person who will achieve whatever task is given to him, no matter what happens. He is very mission-focused and driven,” Woodside said. “He will get up early and stay late to be successful; he is the epitome of a team player.”
Although Barnes’s accomplishments shine with his bandmates, he carries those traits and ideals onto the football field with the Gretna football team. His teammates and coaches see him shine while he leads through practices and games that lead to the success of the team. The defensive coach for the Dragons, Landon Kubicek, shared his perspective on Barnes’s work ethic with the view of how he helps the younger teammates and is a reliable member of the team.
“He is a very consistent worker, and he always shows up to weights and practices,” he said. “Whenever we needed someone on a rack or something in a drill, he was always the one we would call. He was a lead-by-example kind of person that we needed on the team.”
The discipline, leadership, and commitment Barnes shows on the football field extend beyond athletics and academics. These qualities reflect his childhood goal of being in the U.S. military. This dream came from the generations before him, starting with his great-grandfather in 1941, to his grandfather in 1966, and all the way down to his dad in 1998. Barnes’s mission is to be the fourth generation in the Barnes family that has served. To get to this dream, he has faced many setbacks, including the physical requirements to enter the military. Due to the four concussions that he has suffered during his high school years, he was initially denied entrance during his physical, causing him to be held back for a week until the government could clear him.
“The concussions did not push me closer or further away from the military,” Barnes said. “It has been a lifelong goal that I was going to accomplish.”
Barnes had always debated between the Army, the Air Force and the Marines, but ultimately what made him choose the Army Guard over the Air Force Guard was the ability to become a Warrant Officer and the ability to fly the Black Hawk helicopter.
“Joining the military was one of the easiest decisions of my life,” Barnes said. “Free college is nice, but I can’t wait to serve my community and keep the family tradition going.”
Barnes’ decisions were based not only on his own dreams but also on the support of his father and grandfather. Ultimately, what was worthwhile was the ability to help his country and his community.
“My dad, Steven, and my Grandpa, Lloyd, were the main people supporting me when it came to joining the military,” Barnes said. “My dad served in Iraq as a 68W (Combat Medic Specialist), and my grandpa served in Vietnam in the infantry. With their experience in the Army and their deployments, they knew the benefit of joining. They have told me that serving is hard, but you are helping people all around the state and world, which makes all of the push-ups worth it.”
