University honors all those who have served
Conversations faded and heads turned to watch as ROTC cadets marched along and made their way to University Boulevard to join Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK) faculty, staff and guests for a Veterans Day event on Thursday, Nov. 11.
Ol’ Smokey, the cannon, was fired and this officially commenced the 102nd Veterans Day ceremony.
The ceremony was held to honor all who have served in the military. President Mark A. Hussey gave an opening remark in which he thanked everyone for attending. This was followed by Dr. Rito Silva, who introduced the keynote speaker and special guest of the event.
“It’s quite an honor when the country comes around and recognizes veterans. It’s an honor for me to experience that,” said keynote speaker and special guest Col. Lisa Carrington Firmin, a distinguished alumni for the university.
Firmin is a bronze star-decorated commander who served in the Air Force for 30 years. Firmin graduated from Texas A&I in 1979. At the event, she gave a speech in which she talked about what service, patriotism, duty and sacrifice means to her. She talked about the experiences she went through, what it took to join and the message she hopes to give to anyone interested in serving.
“It’s amazing. I feel like I’ve come full circle. To come back to Javelina Nation, this is great,” Col. Firmin said.
Shortly after Col. Firmin’s speech, a brief presentation was given for graduating student veterans who were recognized for serving and for continuing with their studies.
“I felt extremely privileged to be able to honor our fantastic student veterans as they graduate and continue on their life journeys,” sophomore Ashley Reeves said.
During the ceremony, Reeves was in charge of announcing the graduating student veterans, as well as presenting them with an honor cord and challenge coin.
The students were Quintilla Anderson (US Air Force), Timothy Soto (US Army), Homer Ramirez (US Navy), Ann Marie Torres (US Army), John Lawrence (US Army), Jase Aley (US Army), Jordan Jahr (US Air Force) and Oscar Reyes (US Air Force).
The Wind Symphony Brass Ensemble made an appearance and honored the branches of government by playing their songs.
The event was created for the community of Kingsville by Javelina Battalion.
“We probably got a full month’s head start on it, but that was when we were first putting pen to paper and writing everything down. I was working with cadet [Luis] Briseno about what was going to happen, what we wanted from this one, how we were going to make it a little more different and better from the previous one,” Director of Veterans Affairs Eloy Gamez said. “Seeing how everything went from pen to paper to the actual event itself, I couldn’t be any happier.”
New veteran’s resource center opened
Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK) held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Veterans Day to introduce its new Military and Veteran Resource Center.
Located in Eckhardt Hall, the new resource center is for all military affiliated students on campus to have a place where they can relax and unwind in between classes or simply hang out with other students in the program.
Inside, there is a lounge area with a television paired with a couple of gaming consoles as well as furniture for students to sit on and do as they please.
“I look forward to spending more time in the new resource center. There is a study center which we could use at any time. I would use the resource center, too, for any homework I need to do,” freshman Kameron Greenberger said.
The resource center has been years in the making.
“This new addition is the product we had always visioned years back,” Director of Veterans Affairs Eloy Gamez said.
Gamez said the center is great way to get students from all levels of military background into a room where they can network with each other.
“We want them to know that their community does care for them before, during and after service,” Gamez said. “I hope to see some of their faces if they ever decided to come back and visit.