Military Recognition Day

Columbia College salutes those who serve or have served.

The college's fourth annual Military Recognition Day was held Thursday, May 26 in Dorsey Gym on the main campus of Columbia College.

The event recognized alumni, students, faculty and staff who have served or are currently serving in our country’s armed forces.

"Columbia College has a strong record of educating military servicemembers and veterans," said Tery Donelson, assistant vice president for enrollment management at Columbia College. "We seek to honor and remember these men and women for their personal sacrifices on behalf of our great nation."

Watch a video of the event below.


The day featured the presentation of two scholarships: the inaugural Ousley Family Veterans Service Center Scholarship in honor of Greg Ousley '97 to Adrienne Bott, a Navy veteran now serving at Fort Leonard Wood; and the second Colonel Charles E. McGee Scholarship to Air Force paramedic Adam James, an Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom veteran. McGee, a Tuskegee Airman, presented the scholarship in person to President of the Columbia College Student Veterans Association Amber Barringer, accepting on James' behalf.

The day also featured ROTC students raising a U.S. and a Columbia College flag that have previously flown over the college's Hancock Field campus, Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, Syracuse, N.Y.; and Operation CARE PACKAGE, care packages purchased and packed by college employees containing all the comforts of home including Girl Scout cookies, soap, a paperback, socks and chewing gum, sent to platoons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Columbia College and the military

Half of the college's Nationwide campuses are on military bases, and approximately one-quarter of its students are military, veterans or dependents. Columbia College first began educating servicemembers in 1973.