Lincoln University commemorates Veterans Day

Lincoln University Blue Tiger Battalion ROTC Cadet Joshua Nelson delivers the benediction at the closing of a Veterans Day ceremony on the campus Monday.
Lincoln University Blue Tiger Battalion ROTC Cadet Joshua Nelson delivers the benediction at the closing of a Veterans Day ceremony on the campus Monday.

Lincoln University took a moment on Veterans Day to honor the sacrifices of military servicemen and servicewomen, but beyond remembrance. This semester, Lincoln has also utilized a new space to expand its resources for veterans and other members of the military community on-campus.

"We salute our founders," Carlos Graham, LU chief of staff, said at a ceremony Monday afternoon in Memorial Hall.

Lincoln was founded in 1866 after the Civil War by soldiers and officers of the 62nd and 65th United States Colored Infantry regiments.

Graham said LU was honoring those founders' selflessness in their service to the country and then the university, as well as those who continue to protect and fight for freedom - including the freedom to get an education.

The ceremony also featured a performance of the national anthem, an invocation, greetings from Lincoln Miss Sophomore Mya Howard and the playing of Taps.

Howard, a business major from Omaha, thanked her father for his Army service, including two tours in Vietnam.

Kristin Guerrant, coordinator of LU's Military & Veterans Services Center, said "this day is not any ordinary day," but "these men and women should be recognized daily."

To that end, this year, Lincoln also opened a new space for its veterans center, now located in Young Hall.

Lincoln spokeswoman Misty Young said "it does have its own office now. It used to be housed in our military science division, but now it is under student affairs."

Young said the new office features a lounge where student veterans can interact with one another.

"Sometimes, they just need somewhere to relax between classes," she said, given what veterans may have going on in their lives post-deployment.

Guerrant said the space will also have a computer lab.

Young said the move has provided the space for the lounge and computer access, and added that utilizing the Young Hall office location for the veterans center - which moved Aug. 1 - did not cost anything; the Women's Resource Center that used to be located in the space was moved to another place on campus.

Guerrant said "to my knowledge, we haven't really had a true veterans' center for a while."

The new space is for veterans, active military members, ROTC members and military dependents.

"I definitely see a lot more students," she said of the difference having the space has made this semester, and students see the effort LU is putting into supporting them.

Forveles Stokes is majoring in nursing at Lincoln, working on his second semester of his sophomore year, and he's a two-time Iraq combat tour Army veteran.

Stokes, of Kansas City, served eight years in the Army - adding he just re-enlisted after a five-year break - and his combat tours were at Forward Operating Base Falcon in 2007-08 and Ramadi in 2009-10.

He said as a university founded by soldiers, LU needs "a veteran-friendly stance," and slowly but surely, that's developing. He added that having dedicated representatives to work with veterans "speaks volumes."

Guerrant said she would also like to add a Student Veterans of America chapter in the Military & Veterans Services Center's new space.

SVA is a nonprofit that has a mission of providing military veterans "with the resources, support and advocacy needed to succeed in higher education and after graduation." Founded in 2008, there are more than 1,500 on-campus, student-led chapters, located in all 50 states and four countries, representing more than 750,000 student veterans, according to SVA.

On a student level, SVA "empowers veterans to be informed consumers of higher education and make the most of the transition to civilian life," awards scholarships, hosts leadership summits and maintains an alumni network of student veterans.