Maj. Jason Beams presents Cadet Hannah Minns with an Army Achievement Medal during a recognition ceremony at Camp Johnson, Vermont, Dec. 18, 2020. Minns, a cadet with University of Vermont ROTC, received a perfect score in the Vermont Army National Guard’s military funeral honors training, a 40-hour course that prepares soldiers to render services for funerals, color guards, and other formal ceremonies. Beans is the Vermont National Guard liaison and operations officer for the UVM ROTC Program. Don Branum

WILTON — In December, Hannah Minns was the top graduate in Vermont National Guard’s military funeral honors training program.

Minns, from Wilton, graduated in the Top 10 at Mt. Blue High School in 2018. She is a SMP (simultaneous membership program) cadet in the University of Vermont’s ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) program. SMP allows soldiers to serve in the National Guard while also attending college in a ROTC program, and those enrolled in the program can receive active-duty pay while in training and conducting funeral details.

Cadet Haley Kieny, left, salutes Cadet Hannah Minns after presenting her a folded American flag during military funeral honors practice at Camp Johnson, Vermont, Dec. 18, 2020. The 40-hour honor guard course trains soldiers how to conduct color guards, funeral honors and other ceremonies. The cadets are assigned to the University of Vermont Army ROTC. Don Branum

Minns was one of nine cadets completing the military funeral training program. They were the first graduates of the full 40-hour course in 10 years.

Minns earned a perfect score in the class and received an Army Achievement Medal from Maj. Jason Beams, UVM ROTC’s operations officer and Vermont National Guard liaison. An article on the graduating class was shared on Facebook.

“I was asked to participate in this training by my ROTC leadership. I decided to take up this offer because I wanted to learn more about the how the military supports veterans and their families,” Minns wrote in a recent email.

Hannah Minns, a cadet in the University of Vermont’s ROTC program holds awards she received for earning a perfect score in the Vermont Army National Guard’s military funeral honors training program. Minns, from Wilton, is a 2018 graduate of Mt. Blue High School in Farmington. Submitted photo

During the training, the cadets learned how to conduct a color guard and funeral honors.

“We were taught the drill and ceremony that the funeral honor teams use along with two soldier, and three soldier casket and urn sequences,” Minns wrote. “We were also taught a nine soldier detail sequence where we learned how to remove a casket from a hearse. For all of these sequences we learned how to properly fold the American flag and how to present it to the next of kin.”

Minns most enjoyed learning how to fold and take care of the American flag.

“I think that presenting a flag to the next of kin is one of the most honorable things you can do in the military,” she wrote. “This can be one of the last memories made, so it is important to properly dress the flag and hand them off something meaningful.”

The most challenging thing about the training for Minns was keeping ceremonial composure.

“While doing these details you must keep everything in sync and make it look crisp,” she wrote. “The trainers told us their own stories about presenting the flag to the next of kin.

“Hearing these stories makes you realize how humbling of an experience this really is,” Minns wrote. “You are not just handing them a folded flag, it is much more than that. This is a symbol of their loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”

Minns is a junior at the University of Vermont, studying political science and statistics. Her career goals include branch field artillery and becoming a field artillery officer when she graduates and is commissioned in 2022.