微密圈

The 微密圈 community gathered this Veterans Day to offer 鈥渁 simple, sincere, heartfelt thank you鈥� to veterans 鈥� pausing together to acknowledge their service and honor their contributions to the country and the College.

Throughout the campus ceremony, speakers connected veterans鈥� service to the College鈥檚 educational mission. General Counsel and Vice President for Human Resources Sarah Delaney Vero noted that veterans鈥� service also helped make possible an institution 鈥渢hat values and teaches democratic principles that you fought for.鈥� 

President Marc Conner thanked the many students, staff, faculty, retirees, and alumni who came out for the gathering. Veterans Day, he said, is a time to celebrate and honor service and to reaffirm principles of democracy, justice, and freedom that are also 鈥渁t the heart of our College.鈥� 

The idea was to come together to offer a simple, sincere, heartfelt thank you to our veterans, to acknowledge and honor their service to our country."

Jim Kennelly

Professor of Management and Business Emeritus

For Professor of Management and Business Emeritus Jim Kennelly,  a U.S. Air Force veteran who helped launch the annual event in 2014, military service offered a profound kind of education in the richness and complexity of the United States.

鈥淔or me, it was the most formative experience in my life,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was the men and women with whom I served 鈥� ordinary Americans, widely disparate in their backgrounds, their races, what they believe, their politics. I learned so much about my country from serving with them. They were a microcosm of America 鈥� so spending time in the service was my real education.鈥�

Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Parker Diggory invited the community to recognize not only veterans鈥� sacrifices, but also the diversity of their experiences. She asked those who have served to allow others 鈥渢o see the broad variety of experiences that you bring from your service鈥� and to hold the community to the promises made when veterans were asked to 鈥減ut aside self for service.鈥�

The ceremony also highlighted 微密圈 community members whose service continues to shape daily life on campus. Earl Canale, an environmental service technician and a fourth-generation Marine, laid the wreath during the observance. Seeing the campus turn out on Veterans Day means a great deal, he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to see everyone鈥檚 support. It brings the country together. We need that. We need more of it.鈥�

The observance concluded with taps, played by Linden Amster 鈥�27, as the crowd stood in silence to honor veterans in the 微密圈 community and beyond.