In honor of Veterans Day, the College Democrats are hosting a candlelight vigil at the Bell Tower Sunday at 9 p.m. with North Carolina Representative Grier Martin as the keynote speaker.
This first-time event, which they hope to make annual, is a collaborative effort with the North Carolina Federation of College Democrats and is being hosted at colleges and universities across North Carolina.
According to Andrew Bates, director of communications for N.C. State’s College Democrats, he is personally looking forward to Martin’s lecture.
“He’s particularly germane to this because he is a veteran to the U.S. Army and he fought in Afghanistan, and he is still an officer in the Army Reserve,” Bates, a sophomore in political science, said.
The vigil, Bates said, is not political in nature despite that the College Democrats are organizing the event.
Douglas Massengill, vice president of the North Carolina Federation of College Democrats, agreed.
“The purpose of this event to just to highlight the contributions of our veterans here in North Carolina,” Massengill said. “We’re hoping to attract as many people as possible. It’s not a bipartisan event.”
According to Massengill, a sophomore in political science and social studies education, in addition to inviting students to the event, University administrators, community members and other political groups were informed of the event.
“We felt like it was necessary to really reiterate our dedication to honoring our troops here in North Carolina,” he said.
Bates said Martin will discuss the sacrifices military men and women and their families have endured.
According to Massengill, Martin had several qualifications that would add to the vigil.
“We chose Grier Martin for several reasons. First and foremost, he’s a reserve with the National Guard. He’s actively serving our country … and could be called up at any time,” he said.
Massengill said Martin has a military and legislative perspective that he would give to the audience what he said was a low-key event.
“As a prominent Democratic official, he helped pass a budget that really helped our troops as far as veterans’ health care and veterans’ benefits in North Carolina,” he said.
The College Democrats at NCSU have not held an event on this scale before, according to Bates, and therefore, he said he does not have an estimate of how many people will attend.
In addition to Martin’s speech, the floor will be opened up to the NCSU community members to share their stories and those of their loved ones.
As of Thursday night, the NCSU College Republicans did not have anything planned for Veterans Day.
