Slippery Rock University kicked off Military Appreciation Week with is annual Veterans Day Celebration. The day began with a Veterans Breakfast in the Smith Student Ballroom hosted by the SRU Veterans Center. Later in the morning, the Office of Alumni Engagement hosted a Veterans Day Ceremony at the Russell Wright Alumni House. Jondavid Longo, '15, '17, and mayor of Slippery Rock, delivered the keynote address at the Veterans Day Ceremony. Longo served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including a combat deployment to Afghanistan. SRU President William Behre; Austin Reep, a junior philosophy major from Butler, who is an ROTC cadet; and Steven Pancoast, a senior exercise science major from Saint Marys, Georgia, who is president of the Student Veterans of America at SRU, also offered remarks. Pancoast also presented a service dog to SRU student veteran Heath Fishburn, a junior environmental geoscience major from New Castle. This is the third year that the SVA has raised funds to provide a service dog with an SRU student veteran. The ceremony also included members of the SRU Army ROTC raising the colors, laying a wreath, firing a 21-gun salute and playing taps. Lt. Col. Lillian Woodington, professor of military science, recognized enlisted cadets, and the SRU Chamber Singers performed the national anthem, Alma Mater and "God Bless America."
