And your point is?

[flybye023]

I know in the big scheme of things this isn't a biggie but it's starting to really annoy me the way the local news describes some of the soldiers from around here who have died in Irag/Afghanistan.

They'll say something like "John Doe, former Sunset High School student was killed, etc, etc." So then you keep reading and find out that John Doe was 23 or 26 or 32.

Ok, what relevance does his high school career have at. all.? Who cares that he was a former high school student. Most everyone was!

[bara]

I think its for identification.

[Rapscallion]

It's probably to try and bring home to the readers just how close to the reader's home it is, to try and generate some sort of extra closeness and impact on the readers. They'll see that school mentioned elsewhere and see a mention of children, and they'll realise some of them meet an early end.

Rapscallion

[HYHYBT]

It gives people who might vaguely recognize the name something to grab onto. Or, alternately, to recognize they're thinking of someone else, as well as making it more real to everyone that this was a real person, from here, etc.