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Vets honored for service at ceremony

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A veteran wears his cover while attending a talk about life as a veteran on Monday, Nov. 9, in the Viking Union Multi-Purpose Room. // Photo by Caleb Galbreath
Students at Western were able to show appreciation for those who have served in the Military and their families on Monday, Nov. 9, at the annual Veterans Day ceremony in the Viking Union Multi-Purpose Room. This comes after Western was recently named a “Military Friendly School” for the sixth straight year by Military Friendly. President Bruce Shepard led the ceremony by talking about the programs that Western has put in place in order to help veterans be more comfortable with student life. This has lead to Western being in the top 20 percent of schools that are veteran friendly. “We can facilitate their educational benefits process, but also provide a space for them to decompress, do some studying, grab a cup of coffee and build some community,” said Ann Beck, assistant director of Veterans Services, in a press release. Shea Morgan, a Navy veteran, served as a Quartermaster in the Persian Gulf. Morgan is now a junior and studies sociology, benefiting greatly from these programs. “The Veterans Center has fantastic people,” Morgan said. “The people there are willing to help you with anything - any transition, any difficulty.” The Veterans Center knows exactly what these men and women do, and they have helped many people, including Morgan. Nicholas Fields served as a Sergeant in the Marine Corps, and feels that the Marines prepared him well, giving him many of the skills he needed to succeed in life at a university. “The Marine Corps gave me the structure, the planning and the guidance to develop a mindset that would actually get me through school,” Fields said. “There is no way that I could have come to college and succeeded when I was 18.” Fields said without the Marine Corps, there would have been no way he could complete his education. The ceremony concluded with a panel where members of the audience were able to ask questions, many involving veterans ability to adapt to life outside of the military. “Coming to Western has been a challenge at times, you are leaving a group of people who you agree with almost unanimously about everything,” Fields said.


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