{"id":1949,"date":"2017-11-11T07:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/?p=1949"},"modified":"2025-05-14T13:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T20:04:39","slug":"veterans-day-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/veterans-day-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"On eve of Veterans Day, Palomar College honors its own"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the largest veteran population of any community college or university in California, Palomar furthers a tradition of serving the military that goes back to the college\u2019s founding in 1946.<\/p>\n

SAN MARCOS \u2014 On a picture-perfect afternoon, students gathered on balconies and on the edges of the quad as the bell in the clock tower tolled 58 times\u2014once for every Palomar College student killed in action.<\/p>\n

It was the most poignant moment in an hour-long ceremony to honor Palomar\u2019s veterans on Thursday, Nov. 9.<\/p>\n

On a campus with thousands of active duty service members, veterans and military dependents, Veterans Day arrives each year with fresh reminders of how deeply the culture of Palomar College is indebted to those who have served.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want us to always keep our veterans and their families at the heart of all we do, because it is they who make these educational opportunities possible for all of us,\u201d said Superintendent\/President Dr. Joi Blake. \u201cThey have made the ultimate sacrifice and commitment so we can enjoy our freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emceed by Veterans Services Supervisor Jessica Horn, the ceremony featured music, the Pledge of Allegiance led by World War II Coast Guard veteran Doris Moore, and a keynote speech by Palomar alumnus and 10-year Marine Corps veteran Karl Borrero.<\/p>\n

\"WWII

WWII Coast Guard veteran Doris Moore reads a poem during the Palomar College Veterans Day ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 9. Photo by Melinda Finn.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite parts of serving in the military was that ethnicity, or even skin color, did not matter,\u201d recalled Borrero, whose parents are from Venezuela. \u201cWe were all equal. I learned that, in the heat of battle, it\u2019s not about you, but the person to the left and the right of you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand here today and can proudly tell you that, just last year, I earned an associate\u2019s degree from Palomar College, and God willing, I will be graduating next spring with a bachelor\u2019s degree in history from Cal State San Marcos. My goal is to one day teach here at Palomar,\u201d he said, adding with a grin: \u201cSo hopefully the history department has room for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horn said there are 1,200 veterans and military dependents enrolled and using their V.A. benefits at Palomar this semester. \u201cThe last time we (surveyed), there was a total of 5,500 active duty, veterans and dependents,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture of Palomar College started with veterans,\u201d Horn said. \u201cOur very first student was a World War II veteran, and we still have the largest veteran population of any community college or university in the state of California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horn, a veteran of the Marine Corps, recalled arriving at Palomar on the heels of her final tour of duty: \u201cTwo weeks after my last deployment, I transitioned out of the Marine Corps and came to Palomar,\u201d Horn said. \u201cThere was this culture shock\u2014I was in Iraq, and then two weeks later I was on a college campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lejearl Young, who served four years in the Marines before joining the Veterans Services team at Palomar this summer, sang the National Anthem during Thursday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n

Afterward, Young pointed out that veterans bring with them a diversity of opinions and perspectives: \u201cA lot of the veterans aren\u2019t from here. I\u2019m from Mississippi,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think veterans add to the learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he also appreciates the fact that the college has staffed its Veterans Services team with former military personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving veterans serve veterans is so important,\u201d said Young. \u201cWe speak our own language, as veterans, and we can relate to each other in a special kind of way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Veterans

Lejearl Young, a Veterans Services Technician at Palomar College and USMC veteran, sings the National Anthem. Photo by Melinda Finn.<\/p><\/div>\n

Horn, who served in the Marine Corps from 2005-09, said that she and her staff understand what veterans need when they arrive fresh out of the service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the military, it\u2019s like you have this home\u2014you\u2019re part of a team,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd when you get out of the military, there\u2019s a sense of losing that. But at Palomar, we still have it. It\u2019s like that home away from home outside the military. It\u2019s because there is so much support, and we\u2019re all about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Student Veteran of the Year was also announced on Thursday: retired Navy Corpsman Alan Badel. Badel is studying public safety at Palomar and recently won a $1,000 scholarship from Phi Theta Kappa and the International Public Safety Leadership and Ethics Institute<\/a> (IPSLEI).<\/p>\n

Wrapping up the ceremony, Borrero ended his speech by quoting from Ronald Reagan\u2019s 1981 Inaugural Address: \u201cFreedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the largest veteran population of any community college or university in California, Palomar furthers a tradition of serving the military that goes back to the college\u2019s founding in 1946. SAN MARCOS \u2014 On a picture-perfect afternoon, students gathered on balconies and on the edges of the quad as the bell in the clock tower… \u00a0Continue Reading: On eve of Veterans Day, Palomar College honors its own<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10413,"featured_media":1907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,23,18],"tags":[30,29,45],"class_list":["post-1949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-features","category-home","category-slider","tag-events","tag-student-life","tag-veterans"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn eve of Veterans Day, Palomar College honors its own - Palomar News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Palomar College salutes veterans, active duty and military families during its 2017 Veterans Day ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 9.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/veterans-day-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On eve of Veterans Day, Palomar College honors its own - 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