Area veterans will be honored at a special Veterans Day event on Nov. 13 from 12 to 1 p.m. at Montcalm Community College. 

The event will take place on both the college’s Greenville and Sidney campuses. The live event is in room G129 in the Stanley P. Ash Technology and Learning Center on MCC’s Greenville campus and will be live-streamed in room D305 in the Beatrice E. Doser Building on MCC’s Sidney campus. A luncheon, catered by Clifford Lake Inn, will be served at the Greenville campus. 

Amber Jade-Rain, MCC Records Configuration Specialist, Veterans Club co-advisor and one of the event organizers, said since Veterans Day falls on the weekend this year, the event will be held on Monday, Nov. 13. 

The program will start with an introduction about Veterans Day, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and America the Beautiful sung by Larry Moss. Jade-Rain will do a roll call of MCC’s employees, retirees, and emeriti who are veterans. Taps will then be played by a trumpet player and attendees will be invited to partake in the luncheon and the keynote speaker will be introduced. 

The keynote speaker is Andrea Norton, United States Air Force (USAF) veteran and Licensed Master Social Worker at the Aleda E. Lutz VAMC in Saginaw. Prior to working for the VA, Norton served in the USAF as an intelligence analyst and mobile training team. She left the Air Force in 2007 to pursue her education at Michigan State University. She has worked with veterans her entire career. She is passionate about working with communities to help promote a public health approach to suicide prevention and increase the awareness of the rich diversity that exists in the veteran community. 

“She was chosen because she is featured as one of Michigan’s ‘She’s a Veteran’ campaign representatives,” Jade-Rain said. 

The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. 

MCC began the annual Veterans Day assembly in 2007 with MCC Emeritus Dean of Arts and Humanities Dr. Gary Hauck hosting.  

Jade-Rain, who served in the U.S. Army in Dongducheon, Korea, and in El Paso, Texas, along with Veterans Club co-advisor Jeffrey Pedelty, who served in the Michigan Army National Guard and the U.S. Army from 1982-1993, worked with Director of Student Success & Advising Lisa Gardner, Instructional Services Assistant Susan Moss, and Financial Aid Adviser Trent Gingrich to plan the Veterans Day event.