Kennesaw State University’s Military and Veteran Services partnered with the Women’s Resource and Interpersonal Violence Prevention Center to honor female veterans who wear black and gold. Photo submissions were accepted from students, staff, faculty and extended family of KSU who have served in any branch of the military.
These veterans are being recognized during this month-long exhibit, called “She Served.” A mosaic hangs in the atrium of the Social Sciences building, a collage of all the photo submissions from female veterans forming the image of a woman in uniform saluting in front of the star-spangled banner. The mosaic comprises the pictures of 186 veterans and extended family members of KSU.
“Sometimes, it’s not necessarily forgotten, but it’s not in the forefront of your mind that women do it, too,” said Raeanna Duck, the Military and Veteran Services coordinator. “I just wanted to make an opportunity to get the recognition that’s deserved.”
The exhibit opened Tuesday, March 1 with a small reception and opening ceremony for those who submitted photos. Everyone in attendance got to see the compiled mosaic for the first time and search for their individual picture in the collage.
Sasha Price is a senior majoring in psychology. She served four years in the Air Force on active duty from 2008 to 2012. As a member of Security Forces, Price worked essentially as military police and secured installation assets and personnel while stationed in South Korea and Italy.
“Raeanna and her team did a wonderful job facilitating She Served,” Price said. “The speaker of the hour, retired Maj. Gen. Maria Britt, was great and it’s always a pleasure to her speak.”
Price was proud of the fact that she attends a university that celebrates its women veterans.
“Because the majority of our military personnel are men, it felt really good to be recognized as a woman who served in our armed forces,” she said.
Another student, Taelor Moran, attended the event, but she is not a veteran herself. She is a junior majoring in anthropology, and her stepmother served in the army in the mid-2000s. When Moran heard about the upcoming exhibit and the search for photos of female veterans, she submitted a picture of her stepmother during a tour in Iraq.
“It’s not only about awareness,” Moran said. “I think it serves a great networking opportunity as well for women who have served.
“I loved watching my mom interact with other women, who went through what she went through, that she never would’ve gotten in contact with if it hadn’t been for that exhibit.”
The event was not exclusively for women, however. Matthew Foley, a senior majoring in world history, spent eight and a half years in the army as an Arabic linguist and retired in 2010.
“There was a good turnout and any opportunity to celebrate our female veterans is a good thing!” he said.
Foley also commended the keynote speaker, Britt, and appreciated hearing her speech. He noted that the timing of the event was perfect, coinciding with Women’s History Month as well as recent changes to restrictions in certain areas of military occupations, mainly the fact that women can now hold combat positions.
“I think that using the stories and pictures of female veterans from the KSU community was an amazing choice,” Foley said.
Debra Day is a director of development for the College of Education at KSU. She calls herself a fundraiser for many parts of the university since she gets the opportunity to match philanthropists with needs of different areas.
In the military, she also filled a variety of roles in the Adjutant General Corps.
“That’s the arm of the military that’s involved in everything from graves registration during wartime to protocol, personnel management, [and] all aspects of family support,” Day said.
She left active duty in 1988 and went into the Reserves until the mid-90s. She enjoyed the art exhibit, but it was the second project that she felt was even more powerful. Seven women were selected to tell their story about being in the military, and these recordings were compiled onto a website accessible by anyone.
“I’ve been able to share that with family and friends and that piece really has made probably the biggest impact on me,” Day said. “I had people come up to me to say, ‘One, I didn’t know you had been in the military, and two, I didn’t know you had such an experience.'”
Agatha Desmond is another veteran who added her story to this website, and she is considered part of KSU’s extended family since her niece is an alumnus. Duck reached out to her and asked that she record something for the project.
“I’m all for that, because I don’t think there’s been enough done, especially for those of us who served many years ago,” Desmond said. “So I was very happy to participate.”
According to Desmond, she served much earlier than the other women who participated in the exhibit. Many served in the 80s and 90s while Desmond served in the 60s.
“So I was interested to meet some of these other people the day of the event and get to talk to them and see what their feelings were about it, because it is so different from when I was in,” she said.
She was part of the Women’s Army Corps before it was disbanded in 1978. Desmond trained with all women and experienced a very segregated world.
“They kept telling you that you couldn’t do things because you were a woman,” she said. “It was a big fight, over many things.”
Seeing the gradual transformation between the situation then and the progress being made now is exciting for Desmond to watch. Being honored so publicly at the exhibit was a big step for her as well.
“When I was in during the Vietnam War we weren’t thanked for anything,” she said. “All of this is so new to me and so heartwarming.”
