OSU flag display pays tribute to veterans with Stillwater support

OSU flag display pays tribute to veterans with Stillwater support

Friday, November 8, 2024

Media Contact: Jeff Hopper | Communications and Media Relations Manager | 405-744-5827 | [email protected]

Veterans Day is a time when the whole country takes a step back to honor and acknowledge the brave soldiers who laid down their lives.

Oklahoma State University observes this day by holding an annual flag display on the Edmon Low Library lawn. Each flag is accompanied by a dog tag, representing a soldier who has lost their life after Sept. 11, 2001.

No flags have been added to this display in the last year but the number is still overwhelming at 7,158.

Vincent Rivera, OSU Veteran success coordinator, has overseen this event for four years and was moved by the wave of support offered by the OSU community. Student volunteers gathered at 8 a.m. on Nov. 7 to measure and place individual flags, attaching dog tags the following morning.

Rivera and his team organize the flags and dog tags by alphabet allowing observers to easily locate who they are looking for. If a family member or friend wants to keep the dog tag, they are welcome to do so.

"It serves multiple purposes," said Rivera, a Marine Corps and Air Force veteran. "It helps our student veterans celebrate their identity. It shows the community that OSU cares and appreciates their veterans and allows them the chance to come out and meet each other. We have a group of people who might not have this chance to connect any other day."

For many students who've served or are military-affiliated members, the obstacles they overcome differ from other students. Jen Lane, president of the Veterans Faculty and Staff Association, implements different programs to raise awareness of the adjustments these students have to make.

"We do a training for that purpose called Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots, and that just addresses and brings some awareness to challenges in the classroom that they might face, or even on campus," Lane said. "I think that knowledge is power, and it's really nice to be able to share that with those that may not even have any kind of experience with military-affiliated people."

Veterans appreciation week is Nov. 11-15 to bring awareness to the different challenges past service members and their families experience. OSU's Veteran Success Centeris hosting various eventsopen to military personnel, family members and the general public throughout the week.

During the year, the Veteran Success Center is open to all military-affiliated people to have a place where they feel understood and welcomed by people around them. Rivera highlights the Veterans Success Centers' various resources to student veterans and affiliated members.

"So if they ever have that question, where they're like, I don't know who to go to, they can come to me, you're the person," Rivera said. "Then the center is where all of our work studies work; they're all VA work studies. I hire 50% veterans, 50% family members. We have a social area, a quiet study area, a group study area. I have free coffee and snacks every day for them."

These resources and community significantly impact military-affiliated students wanting to transition to college life. Having a place where they can get advice and counsel from older veterans with similar experiences allows these students to open up.

"It helps bring awareness," said Kaitlin Timmons, a student worker at the Veterans Success Center. "While veterans do protect our country, they still are affected by both mental and physical health. Being able to physically see that, brings it to students' faces."

Story By: Darby Rains | [email protected]

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