Syracuse University’s annual Veterans Day Ceremony, which took place at Hendricks Chapel on Friday morning, celebrated the university’s commitment to military service members and the history of the federal holiday.  

The event’s keynote speaker was U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. (Ret) Cynthia Pritchett, the first woman to serve as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader of a sub-unified combatant command in a time of war, according to the Army Women’s Foundation. In that position, she helped lead military operations in the Middle East.

Pritchett said she has been described as “living history.”

“When I thought back about all the things I’d accomplished … those things are like ‘Yeah, I guess that is history, and it’s happening now,’” she said. “My little sister had gone to the Army Women’s Museum, she called me up and she goes, ‘Do you know you’re in the museum?’”

In November 2013, Pritchett was honored by the Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship program within SU’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

The IVMF asked Pritchett to speak at the ceremony, she said.

“Command Sgt. Maj. Pritchett is a trailblazer for women in the military,” Chancellor Kent Syverud said when he introduced Pritchett. “Ultimately, Cynthia said she loved that we are all working toward the defense of our nation, and we have led the way to getting America to understand and accept diversity.”

Pritchett was the final speaker of the ceremony. Student Veterans Organization President Kierston Whaley, who served in the U.S. Army, spoke about the opportunities SU offers veterans.

As part of the “GI Bulge” — a surge in veteran enrollment at universities following World War II — SU accepted more than 9,500 veterans into the college, Whaley said. Veterans made up about half of the student body two years after the end of World War II, she added.

“I am proud to call myself a student veteran — a member of another generation of veterans passing through these prestigious halls, whose futures will be shaped by our time here,” she said.

Assistant Director of Veteran Career Services’s Jennifer Pluta gave a short history of Veterans Day. Armistice Day, which marked the end of World War I, was originally a day to remember veterans of that war. It later became Veterans Day, to celebrate all people who have served in the armed forces.

The National Veterans Resource Complex, a multimillion dollar project that will house all of SU’s veteran organizations and support systems, is scheduled to be completed in spring 2020. The IVMF and the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs will move into the NVRC.

Officials have said they expect to begin construction on the NVRC by January 2018.

“We’re going to leverage public and private support to ensure that this university remains the best in the nation for research, actual programming and collaboration in support of our service members, veterans and families,” Syverud said.

Published on November 10, 2017 at 2:24 pm

Contact Catherine: [email protected] | @ccleffert