Veterans were honored on campus with the annual Veterans Day Chapel event Friday in the newly renovated Moody Coliseum.
Craig Fisher, associate vice president for advancement and alumni, and Blair Schroeder, chief planning officer, planned out the event in Moody after renovations.
“A Veterans Day ceremony has been a tradition at ACU for many years, and we’ve missed being able to host the event the last two years as Moody was undergoing renovation,” Fisher said. “This is an important time and opportunity for us to say thank you and honor the men and women in our ACU community and the Abilene community who have served our country.”
Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university, opened the ceremony with a speech thanking Veterans for their service and dedication as patriotic symbols surrounded attendees. Chief Diversity Officer in his capacity as Mayor Anthony Williams served as the MC of the event, recognizing service men and women, and their families.
Schroeder said ACU believes it is important to provide spaces for the students on campus and people in the community to participate in that recognition.
“ACU has a long-standing tradition of recognizing veterans on our campus,” Schroeder said. “We always want to be able to invite those from our community to any chapel, let alone ones that honor those within our community for their sacrifice.”
Previous ceremonies included performances from ACU’s A Cappella Chorus and the Big Purple Marching Band. For this ceremony, Taylor Elementary School Honor Choir performed patriotic songs, after Tamil Oluwatamilore, freshman criminal justice major from Midland, sang the National Anthem to the ACU community.
“As Christians and Americans we recognize that freedom is not free,” Schroeder said. “It is important for us to push pause on all the different things that could compete for our attention and realize that there are so many more things that unite than divide us.”
