 My name is Morgan Torres. I'm the Assistant Director for the Veteran Success Center. Joining me today is Bodie. Bodie is a sophomore here studying at Purdue University and is currently a military dependent. Dad served in the Navy for 25-plus years. He's lived all over. And Steve here is a senior also studying at Purdue and is currently serving active duty within the Coast Guards. We are here today to really highlight the military-connected footprint that's here on campus, which essentially started from the very beginning of Purdue University. We will be starting here at the Purdue Armory. This building is not only one of the oldest Purdue buildings, but is also one of the oldest military-connected buildings. In 1862, the Morrell Act provided each state an opportunity to use public land for the purpose of creating a college. But there are a few stipulations. Three stipulations worth noting are had to work in the effort of agriculture, mechanic arts, and another requirement was they had to send and provide military training to all their males in freshman and sophomore year. This requirement for the military training for our Purdue students essentially became the Purdue Cadet Corps. And in 1889, a component of the Purdue Cadet Corps became the infantry. That group of infantrymen became Battery Bee. Fun fact, President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 actually activated Battery Bee and sent them to the Mexican border to provide security against Mexican revolutionaries. To this day, that specific unit remains as one of the only Purdue units activated to address a situation such as this. So in 1916, there became a severe need for a space such as this because the National Defense Act was passed and it really formalized the reserve officer training component of the military. So all the officers in the military that go through ROTC, that's when it was formalized. And therein lies two years later the need for an armory and therefore the construction of our armory. Another component of the Purdue Cadet Corps was the establishment with the drum corps as well as a bugle corps which then became Purdue's band that we see today. Another snippet worth mentioning is that Purdue's campus itself was activated to respond to World War I and then it was again activated later in response to the attacks on Pearl Harbor. So two times our campus was literally pushing out individuals for the purpose of military defense. Currently, there are roughly 520 students who are going to be our future leaders as officers within our service. At Purdue, you can receive education such as the military science and leadership minor as well as naval and aerospace studies. Our second stop brings us to one of Purdue's most iconic buildings, the Purdue Memorial Union. The first talking about creating and constructing the Purdue Memorial Union happened around 1910 but was shortly delayed thereafter because of World War I. At the close of that war, the students truly felt as though they should commemorate the 4,013 students who served in the 67 who lost their lives during the war conflict. On November 11th in 1920, Armistice Day, the students collected and led an effort to collect signatures and really capture the student voice to continue the construction for the Purdue Memorial Union. One of the highlights inside the Purdue Memorial Union is the gold and black cross on the floor. This cross commemorates the lives of the 67 students who gave their life to the efforts amongst the war. Since then, this honor has extended to all of Purdue's faithful who have given their lives to their service in their country. So inside of the Purdue Memorial Union, there is a list of over 650 names of Purdue student, military students who have given their life to a plethora of war conflicts. So our third stop is going to be the Class of 50 Lecture Hall. So in 1944, the Service Member Readjustment Act was passed and this made pathway for a large amount of students to use their GI bill in many different ways. And so that really explains the high enrollment we see among specifically the Class of 1950. Something worth noting on the second floor of the Class of 50 is that in the Class of 50, there was a significant amount of student veterans in the Class of 50 population, the student population. And ultimately, they donated the funds to create this building and donated it to Purdue to really recognize and memorialize kind of that era and time. On the top floor of the 1950 building, there is a Purdue landmark known as the way it was. So this was created by John Seward Johnson Jr., who also was eventually had a military connected experience through the Navy. Legend has it, the individual that's standing was actually a student veteran who was involved heavily with the student veteran experience and thus kind of created the student veteran voice, a need for established community, a need for the military connected experience us to look at that type of student experience and essentially started the framework for places such as the Veteran Success Center. Our second to last stop is going to be Schleeman Hall, which is really just in the heart of campus as you can see and is the hub for student services. In 1934, Helen Schleeman came onto campus and served as the director for Doomy Hall, which at that time was known as a women's residence hall. After the United States entered into World War II, Helen Schleeman had to depart from campus in her position on campus to go serve amongst the United States Coast Guard Reserve where she then obtained the rank of captain amongst the US Navy. When Schleeman returned to campus, she served as the Dean of Women. Schleeman was known for being an absolute proud feminist as she fought effortlessly for the rights of women. Schleeman, however, was not the first Dean of Women. That honor goes to Dorothy Stratton, who did serve as the first Dean of Women in 1933. She's best known within her military experience of being the first director for the SPARS program in the Coast Guard. Coast Guard, did you know that? Some progress always ready, I didn't know that. There we go! Did you know that there was that connection with Purdue University? I did not. The more you know. In 1942, she became the first person to be a commissioned female amongst the Coast Guard. Here we are at our final stop, the Veteran Success Center. I'm sure, you know, you have had experiences here in this office with getting your education benefit processed, you know, utilizing the resources and the opportunities that come through our office. But essentially, this place was founded and started this specific office September 11th, 2014. But what comes out of our office is really going to close the gap of need that comes from the military connected experience. What do you do when you get deployed in the middle of the semester? You know, what happens when you have an interaction with a professor where you need to explain to them a military absence? Those are components of our office that we continuously work towards closing. In addition to that, we service roughly 1,500 students. Did you know we had that many students? Yeah, 1,500. We are really the hub for that education benefit in getting it processed and ensured that it's happening and the funds are being released to the service member for that education benefit. I wanted to thank you for spending time with me today and kind of letting me highlight the military footprint here on campus. I know I didn't touch on every single bit, and we're still learning about individuals that have great stories that are military connected and Purdue connected today. But that's what it's all about, right? We have everything to learn from the past, our present, and our future, so thank you.