By Alanna Dent, Staff Writer
Susquehanna Enactus celebrated Veteran’s Day on the football field. Veterans form Veterans of Rally Point Inc. and Snyder County were invited to stand on the football field as they were honored in a multitude of ways.
Nathaniel Leies was the project manager of the event, and was eager to discuss the process of putting it together.
“I joined the Enactus club last year and heard that the leader of the Supporting our Veteran’s Initiative would be graduating,” Leies said. “We had just held a meeting with our Business Advisory Board and one member suggested we contact two individuals in Middleburg to check in with their work with veterans.
This contact revitalized the project, as we now had a contact with veterans of Snyder county, who we in turn asked to join us at the football game last weekend.”
Leies continued by discussing the connection between the campus community and the military, a connection that he hopes to strengthen through the Veteran’s Initiative.
Veteran’s Day is Nov. 11 and Leies wanted to honor them in a way that would be seen by a large number of students.
“We realized that with parent’s weekend coming that bringing the veterans to one of the biggest football games of the year would not only build awareness of military in our community for the student body but also parents and families at the game,” Leies said. “Additionally, it would give our vets a fun chance to meet with us and the ROTC. I think they really enjoyed being on field to be honorary captains and do the coin toss, which are very special privileges.”
Leies explained that although this was a successful fundraiser and raised awareness about veterans in our area, that it is not the only event that is part of the veteran initiative, and Enactus plans to work with them throughout the year.
Leies continued, “In the case of Supporting our Veterans, my team has two goals: build a community of active and inactive military on campus and in our local Selinsgrove/Snyder county region; the other goal we have is to connect with veterans from the area and provide impactful solutions to their problems.”
For this year long initiative, Enactus teamed up with an organization by the name of Rally Point Inc.
Their goal is to continue to provide workshops to help veterans, especially those with disabilities both physical and mental. In addition, they seek to provide assistance for veterans who face losing their homes or are already homeless.
The football team paid respects to the veterans by al- lowing them to be honorary team captains as well as initiating the coin toss before the game. There was a photo booth where people could go as a group or individually and post their photos with the hashtag #SU_Vets_Game.
“We took photos of approximately 28 groups of people,” Leies said. “Enactus and Rally point overall engaged everyone who attended the game as we had activities announced over the PA and went on field at the beginning of the game where we stood alongside President Green who delivered a few remarks about celebrating the life and service of Veterans.”
Discussing the future of the project, Leies was hopeful that Enactus will continue to honor former military personnel at Veteran’s Day football games for years to come. He also hopes that in the future, interest in the Supporting our Veteran’s Initiative will continue to grow.
In his closing remark, Leies said, “we are planning on fostering a long-term relationship with local veterans and active military so that we can continue to nurture and perpetuate a stable military community in our school and in our local area.”
If you are interested in joining Enactus, you can contact Jeremy Witter at witter@susqu. edu. They meet on Thursday nights at 9 p.m in Apfelbaum Hall room 218. Non majors are also welcome to join the club.
