{"id":7847,"date":"2014-05-08T08:21:47","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T13:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=7847"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:37:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:37:54","slug":"redwhiteblue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=7847","title":{"rendered":"Commencement 2014: Red, white and blue honor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senior Micah Poulson, Air Force ROTC and Wing Commander of the 590th Cadet Wing, holds his military honor cords. The cords will be presented to graduating military-affiliated students at a special ceremony May 9.<\/p>\n

Sunday, a new kind of cord will grace the shoulders of some of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\u2019s most dedicated graduates: those who serve the United States.<\/p>\n

Military honor cords in strands of red, white and blue are being offered at Carolina this year for the first time, giving special recognition to graduating students who are veterans, serving in the military or ROTC students commissioning upon graduation.<\/p>\n

They also will be honored with their own graduation ceremony Friday, an event unique for the way it pays tribute to graduates\u2019 service to the military alongside their accomplishments as Carolina students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted a ceremony to honor what these students have contributed to our country and to our ability to enjoy a public education,\u201d said Brian Papajcik, an assistant dean of students at UNC-Chapel Hill and a member of the Veterans Resource Team responsible for coordinating student veteran resources and support services. \u201cThis not only recognizes their military-affiliated status, but also the hard work they have done to become graduates of this University.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ceremony is part tof the University\u2019s overall plans to expand the resources offered for military-affiliated students as recommended by the UNC Policy on Military Student Success. The policy calls on institutions to develop and maintain a comprehensive network of services for such students, and Papajcik said Carolina employees and students have taken up the cause with enthusiasm. The Office of the Dean of Students has begun offering military-friendly \u201cGreen Zone<\/a>\u201d training for faculty and staff and maintains contact with local and national veterans resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ceremony is part of a larger strategy to build a better support structure on campus for our military-affiliated students,\u201d said Papajcik. Unless students are using Veteran Affairs benefits or involved in ROTC programs, the University may not be aware of their status and unable to effectively reach out to these students. Providing the cords is a first step in taking a more complete count of those students.<\/p>\n

An orientation session this summer will have additional programming for transfer students who are veterans, with panels tailored to the special needs and experiences of those students. Starting this fall, UNC will also develop new programs to support students who indicate on their applications a military affiliation and enhance the services made available to them.<\/p>\n

Lara Taylor will graduate Sunday with a degree in psychology, which she plans to use in service of other veterans. Her research at Carolina has focused on the transition from military to academia, and she was a member of the student-led Carolina Veterans Organization<\/a>, which seeks to provide a welcoming and informative environment for all veteran students and their families.<\/p>\n

Before coming to Carolina, Taylor served in the Air Force as a personnel apprentice. Though she never deployed, she saw what her fellow veterans experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to educate other students on the lives veterans have lived,\u201d she said. \u201cThose who have been in combat might have a completely different outlook on life. It\u2019s hard for them to relate to a lot of the students who don\u2019t understand the depths of the experiences they\u2019ve had in the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor said it was the student group who suggested the cords, but Papajcik who came up with the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really went above and beyond to start something special here at UNC, and we hope anyone with an appreciation for the military will want to come and celebrate these students,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n

Micah Poulson, Wing Commander of the 590th Cadet Wing in Carolina\u2019s Air Force ROTC, has been chosen to give remarks at Friday\u2019s ceremony and spoke at Carolina\u2019s Veterans Day Ceremony last November. He\u2019ll graduate with a degree in African, African American and Diaspora Studies \u2013 with minors in history and aerospace studies \u2013 and begin active duty in Suffolk, England, managing the maintenance of special operations aircrafts. After his service, he plans to attend law school and become an attorney for the Air Force.<\/p>\n

Poulson came to Carolina from Hampton, Va., because of the University\u2019s commitment to financial aid. The military hadn\u2019t crossed his mind since he was a child playing with toy soldiers, he said, but in seeking out a niche at Carolina, he found himself drawn to the Air Force.<\/p>\n

At first, his parents didn\u2019t fully understand his decision to join the Air Force ROTC his sophomore year. But, he said, \u201conce they saw how much it was helping me grow, and how confident I\u2019ve become, they got excited about it. They\u2019re proud of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Force ROTC provided mentorship, direction and structure. His grades improved, he was able to help others and he developed skills he didn\u2019t know he had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might look like I have everything together, now, but when I came here I was rough around the edges,\u201d said Poulson. \u201cThrough the Air Force, I learned I could be a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some, it\u2019s hard not to have a narrow view of the military, Pouslon said, if they don\u2019t know much about it. He hopes the new initiatives at Carolina will help educate other students about military life. It\u2019s where he found a diversity of people and opportunities and awakened a passion for service.<\/p>\n

He looks forward to Friday to say \u201cthank you\u201d to his fellow students who serve and the University he loves. And to wearing the new red, white and blue cord.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came here, I didn\u2019t know who I was,\u201d he said. \u201cI found myself through Carolina and the Air Force and the opportunities that I\u2019ve been given here.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Courtney Mitchell, University Gazette<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, a new kind of cord will grace the shoulders of some of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill\u2019s most dedicated graduates: those who serve the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17,13,18],"tags":[1660,24,2259,2260,2261,36,37,38,39,40],"class_list":["post-7847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fine-arts-humanities","category-natural-sciences-mathematics","category-social-sciences","category-undergraduate-education","tag-air-force-rotc","tag-carolina","tag-commencement-2014","tag-lara-taylor","tag-micah-poulson","tag-unc","tag-unc-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-chapel-hill","tag-university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46639,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7847\/revisions\/46639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}