Special celebrations like Veterans Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July are great times to remember and give thanks for the sacrifices military personnel and families go through on a daily basis. Since these sacrifices are continuous, there are those who try to do more outside of those annual holidays.
Enter the Dublin Scioto High School’s Purple Star Club: a dedicated group of students whose mission is to honor and recognize veterans and their families with year-round support.
“When you think about our military personnel, and you think about everything they stand for, it’s what you hope to find in people,” says John Witt, an advisor for the Purple Star Club and a social studies teacher at Scioto. “So much time is given to benefit others when others may go about their daily job or life and not realize that that’s happening.”
Scioto was recognized by the state of Ohio as a Purple Star School in April 2022 due to its students with military-connected families and its support of veterans.
Annual Veterans Story Event
Thursday, Nov. 9
3:30-6 p.m.
Dublin Scioto High School
Visit the district’s website www.dublinschools.net for more information.
Witt says the recognition came with a feeling of responsibility to carry on with their support of veterans, and with the help of a small handful of passionate students, the Purple Star Club was born last year.
One of those passionate students is senior and founding member Gabe Shaw, who is a part of the club’s leadership team. Shaw says he became invested in the club because he felt there was a disconnect between young people and support for veterans, and he wanted more year-round recognition.
“I wanted to help the people who aren’t recognized,” Shaw says. “At the end of the day, they’re people too, and if they need help, there should be people there to help them instead of us just walking around and acting like, ‘Oh, they served,’ and that’s all.”
While the club does host its fair share of large events around Veterans Day and other important dates, Witt says its plethora of smaller activities – such as birthday and holiday cards or special ceremonies at school sporting events – have their own powerful impact.
“Just to have five minutes of recognition, it blows them away. They’re overwhelmed, the
emotions flow,” Witt says. “They get caught up, they get teary eyed, as do the children and the spouses and everyone else who accompanies them. So, it’s just a really cool thing.”
Other small gestures of gratitude the club has performed include fundraisers, distributing purple roses to military-connected staff throughout the school district, sending various cards to veterans and their families through their mailing list, and spreading holiday cheer to two Dublin retirement communities near the end of the year.
While year-round recognition is important, the club still hosts larger events to make a special impact. Megan Piatt, a sophomore who is also a part of the club’s leadership team, says she enjoys the events where she can make personal connections with veterans.
“We did a breakfast in April before school one day, and I thought that was really fun because we had all the veterans on our staff join us, and we got to hear all their stories,” Piatt says. “Now I have connections with those teachers. If I see them in the hall we’ll wave at each other, and it’s just nice to know that there are teachers now that I can go to because I wouldn’t have known them or talked to them all if it wasn’t for those interactions.”
One of the largest events the club participates in is the Annual Veterans Story Event where students connect with a veteran to write up and gather anything that helps tell their story on a poster board.
Now in its 10th year, Witt says the event features a choir performance, guest speakers and tables featuring memorabilia and over 200 individual projects for veterans both present and past. Following the presentations, students can gather in small groups for a round table discussion with veterans in the community who stay to answer questions.
“Veterans show up who are part of not just the Dublin community, but the Columbus community and the greater community,” Witt says. “They’ve made it very clear to the students how much what they do matters.”
Shaw and Piatt say they hope to get more people in the community involved in their mission by growing the club through more events and to have a greater network with both students and veterans.
“Anyone can thank (veterans), or anyone can do all these things for them, even if you don’t have a direct person in your family, or like a friend who went through what they did,” Piatt says. “It's for anyone.”
Nathan Mader is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
