HPU Hosts the Largest Crowd Ever at 14th Annual Veterans Day Celebration
HPU’s Kappa Alpha Order Fraternity Raised a Record $104,000 to Purchase Four Track Chairs for Wounded Veterans.
HIGH POINT, N.C., Nov. 8, 2024 – High Point University welcomed more than 2,500 veterans, family members and community guests to the Nido and Marianna Qubein Arena and Conference Center today for the 14th Annual Veterans Day Celebration, honoring those men and women who have served our nation.
Grammy Award-winning singer Lee Greenwood, who recently joined HPU’s Access to Innovators program as its Artist in Residence, opened the program with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and sang his patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA” to close the program. During his final song, a bald eagle named Clark soared over the packed crowd made up of veterans from every military branch.
HPU’s Annual Veterans Day Celebration is believed to be the largest of its kind on a college campus. Today, the largest audience in the event’s history filled the Qubein Conference Center and overflowed to the arena’s basketball court.
“We welcome you to this university, wherever you are across this land — from border to border, sea to sea and certainly across the world,” HPU President Nido Qubein said, noting the event was being livestreamed for those individuals who couldn’t attend in-person. “I believe in the future of this country. I believe the American Dream is alive and well. I define it as the achievement of your own goal. I believe that regardless of who is in power in Washington, this country is stronger and better than any one of us. And all of us together can charge the reality of its future in a positive, meaningful, powerful and relevant way.”
Retired U.S. Army four-star Gen. Dan McNeill delivered an inspirational message as one of the event’s featured speakers. A North Carolina native, he served as the commanding officer of the 40-nation International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan following a tour of duty as the commanding general of U.S. Forces Command.
The program also included a complimentary breakfast, a patriotic salute and a recognition of students who are leading initiatives to support veterans. As they do every year, HPU students honored veterans with a celebratory welcome as hundreds of men and women, some in uniform, entered the arena. The veterans received an HPU blanket as a special gift during the event.
“We’ve had many performances around the country, of course, in various places for Veterans Day, large stadiums alike,” Greenwood said. “It’s kind of cool when you have just a moment to step back and honor those people for their military service and who have spent their entire life either in sacrifice and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice in defending the country and its freedom.”
McNeill said it was a humbling experience and an honor to speak on behalf of those brave veterans who have worn the uniforms of America’s armed service.
“Truly you have earned your place in the history of our nation through dedicated commitment and great personal sacrifice,” said McNeill. “By what right do we assemble here today to honor the men and women who now stand in the ranks of our core of military service veterans? It’s simple. The liberties and latitude of the Constitution of the United States of America grant us the right to peaceful assembly and free expression of gratitude. Who has the duty to protect that Constitution? All those who serve the American people have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Madison Crowell, a freshman who was accepted to 231 colleges and universities and received nearly $13 million in scholarships, gave the invocation at the start of the program. She prayed God would comfort the families of veterans who lost their lives in the ultimate sacrifice and that He will protect those who are on the front lines in active-duty service, including her father — a U.S. Army sergeant.
“Today, we honor courageous and worthy men and women who are in this room and around the world who have placed their lives on the line so that we may enjoy the freedom and liberties that America guarantees,” she said. “We are grateful for the selflessness they displayed and continue to display in the face of our adversaries.”
American Flags and Track Chairs Donated at Today’s Event
As is tradition at the annual event, HPU donated approximately 100 American flags to local nonprofits, schools and government buildings. In addition, Operation K.A.R.E., a national initiative started by HPU’s Kappa Alpha Order in 2016, raised a record $104,000 to provide Track Chairs for four wounded veterans. Two of the veterans were in attendance to receive their new track chairs.
Founded by Kappa Alpha fraternity members in partnership with The Independence Fund, the initiative has grown to include more than 75 KA chapters across the country. It has raised approximately $2 million to help veterans and their families.
The event also included the Star of Service and Sacrifice for veterans to sign. This is the third 5-foot star that will be displayed on HPU’s campus as a reminder for students of the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom.
Student Government Association President Ben Niehaus, a senior finance major with an accounting minor, said the annual Veterans Day Celebration is his favorite event of the year.
“I have now volunteered for the event each of my four years on campus, and it brightens my day every single time,” said Niehaus, who is from Chattanooga, Tennessee. “It is an honor to meet these men and women that have sacrificed so much for our great country. I love seeing the joy on the faces of our veterans when we greet them and hand them blankets. It is a blessing to attend a university where we value patriotism and continually honor our veterans who are the reason that we can live in a free country.”
The Veterans Day Celebration is also one of the favorite HPU events on campus for SGA Chief of Staff Caitlin Black, a senior from High Point who is in the Honors Scholar Program double majoring in computer science and dance.
“I am so thankful to have been able to volunteer for this event all four years of my time here and am so blessed to help welcome the many veterans onto this beautiful campus, including my grandfather who is a Navy veteran,” Black said. “This event is a great time to be able to give back to those who have given their all for our freedom. I am forever grateful for these men and women who have laid their life on the line so that we all can live the freedoms we so often take for granted and am so thankful to attend a values-based institution that honors these veterans in such a great way. It truly is because of their sacrifices that we live in the world we do today.”
HPU’s Annual Veterans Day Celebration is supported by the Sheriff Family Veterans Awareness Endowment, the MJ Hall and Jay Stobbs Leadership in Military and Veterans Awareness Endowment, David and Luke Greisler, D.H. Griffin Construction and River Landing at Sandy Ridge.
