An American flag flies above Academic Walk. Duquesne will be celebrating its second annual Veterans Week starting Nov. 7. Veteran’s Day this year is on Friday, Nov. 11.
Hallie Lauer | Staff Writer
For the second year, Duquesne will be honoring service members on campus for Veteran’s Day.
Veterans Week is a celebration honoring the approximately 250 to 300 veterans and active duty members of the armed forces who attend Duquesne. The week runs Nov. 7 through Nov. 11 and will be filled with events to educate the public and recognize the service these men and women have given, according to Director of Duquesne’s Office of Military and Veteran Students, Don Accamando.
“For me, [Veteran’s Day] is always a day of extreme pride,” Accamando said. “To be part of the fraternity of those who have served, it’s an extreme honor.”
The week will begin Monday with a prayer service followed by Roger Brooke, a Duquesne psychology professor and Director of the Military Psychological services, as a guest speaker. He will give a lecture titled “The Warrior’s Path” in Rockwell Lecture Hall One beginning at 7:30 p.m.
On Tuesday Nov. 8 there will be no events, as it is Election Day and the Office of Military and Veteran “encourages everyone to get out there and support their nation by voting,” Accamando said.
On Nov. 9 there will be a ribbon cutting for a new lounge in Libermann Hall. The ribbon cutting begins at 11:30 a.m. and goes until 12:30 p.m.Last year, the Student Veterans Association received a $7,000 grant to remodel this lounge into a place where veteran students can spend their time.
“This is where the military and veteran students have a place, this is their home [on campus],” Accamando said.
On Nov. 10 there will be a screening of “Project 22,” a documentary that is a compilation of stories from different veterans across the country. The screening will be in Rockwell Lecture Hall Three at 7:00 p.m. In the past year, roughly 8,000 veterans have committed suicide, according to The Military Times website, and this documentary was made to raise awareness of those high suicide rates in the veteran community.
Lee Wagner, an academic coach for the Veteran’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (VBSN), said the week will help bring the campus closer together.
“Veterans Week at Duquesne is great opportunity to thank and honor our military and veteran students, build awareness around veteran issues and most importantly, continue to build a stronger sense of community on campus for our military and veteran students,” Wagner said.
The VBSN organization, a national program for veterans, helped put together some of the events for the week including the exhibit at Gumberg Library about the creation of combat paper, which is paper made out of old military uniforms. The exhibit will be up until Nov. 11.
For the sixth year, Duquesne will host the Veteran’s Breakfast Nov. 11, beginning at 8:00 a.m. The breakfast, planned by the Veterans Leadership Program, costs $35 for a ticket. The breakfast is in the Union Ballroom and open to the community.
After the breakfast, guests and veterans can head to the annual Pittsburgh Veteran’s Day Parade, which starts at 10:00 a.m. at the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 10th St. in Downtown Pittsburgh.
“The fact that we recognize that service with a special day is great … it’s special. I’ll just leave it at that,” Accamando said. “It really forces us to slow down, even if it’s just for a day, to remember sacrifice and service for the nation.”
A detailed list of the events can be found online at duq.edu/veterans under the News and Events tab.
