Veterans Memorial Garden Honors NC State Alums’ Sacrifices

The Court of North Carolina, located on Main campus, has long been one of NC State’s most Hallowed Places, a space for reflection, a quiet moment or simply enjoying some fresh air.

It’s now also home to a vital resource for NC State’s military and veteran community, comprised of roughly 900 veteran students and nearly 1,500 military dependents. On Monday, Nov. 11, the university celebrated Veteran’s Day by dedicating its new Veterans Memorial Garden, a space that serves to honor and recognize NC State affiliated veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice in military service to the United States. 

“I’m thrilled,” said Nick Drake, director of NC State’s Jeffrey Wright Military and Veteran Services (MVS) program. “This is a project that has been long in the making. I think the idea for it and what it turned out to be in terms of recognizing and honoring the sacrifices of those who have perished while serving, it means a lot. This garden stands there as an opportunity for people to reflect on that or honor the service of those folks however they see fit, whether it’s finding solace, talking to other people, whatever it may be, the space is there for them.” 

The design and creation of the space was the result of two parallel efforts on campus. When Drake–a United States Army and North Carolina National Guard veteran–returned from an active deployment in 2020, he and his team began working with the Shelton Leadership Center to build an outdoor wellness space for NC State’s military community. 

In late 2020 and early 2021, a focus group met with student veterans at NC State to see what they wanted from such a space. They put together a report and presented it to NC State constituents, including Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Doug Morton. 

As fate would have it, at the time, Morton and his Facilities Division team were working with Reggie Harris and Larry Hancock, both Army veterans and NC State alums who were working to create a physical space to memorialize NC State veterans on campus. 

The two groups quickly joined forces, with Mike Riha taking over as the project manager, and University Landscape Architect Tom Skolnicki, Dave Josephus, Rick Hilburn, David Currin and Joe Myers of NC State’s facilities team playing important roles as well. 

Skolnicki and the other members of the team saw an existing space that was originally designed as an outdoor classroom in the Court of North Carolina as an ideal location for the garden. The circular shape of the space makes it a perfect spot for reflection, and, perhaps most importantly, it has a clear line of sight to NC State’s Memorial Belltower. 

“I think that will provide a focal point to remind people of the magnitude of what people did for our country,” Skolnicki said. “The circular form of the space is not only conducive to gathering, but it also speaks to lots of other things, just as a geometric form, that it can remind us that life goes on. We have our lives here, we make our mark and then it informs and helps the next generation. There is that circle of life. These people that are honored in this place fit into that in a very significant way.”

The garden includes 9-inch round cast seals for each branch of the United States Armed Forces, and a QR code that will take visitors to a “Scroll of Honor,” a list of names of NC State alums who gave their lives in military service to the United States. 

For Skolnicki, a United States Navy veteran, seeing the project come to fruition was a moment of pride. 

“One thing I’m also really proud of is that we found a way that this can really be sustainable,” Skolnicki said. “It’s a commitment to one of our university values of sustainability. Rather than trying to find a way to put the names on a physical place, we’re  linking to a site through the QR code which can be updated and maintained. It gives us the opportunity to tell lots of stories about these people. That’s something that I am really looking forward to coming to fruition in one place.”

The next phase of the project, Drake said, will indeed entail urging members of the NC State community to provide additional names to be added to the list, as well as photos and stories about their time at the university and service to the country. 

Many of the alums who perished in previous conflicts such as World War I and World War II were of a similar age to current NC State students. Drake hopes this will help the NC State community continue to learn about the university’s history of military connections, as well as continuing to make veterans feel welcome at NC State. 

“A lot of our students here at NC State–grad students in particular, or even young, intermediate faculty or staff–were the age of these folks that went away and paid the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “I think honoring that service is important for several reasons, one of which is showing that we support them and we care, and we’re going to honor that, and we’re showing the families the same thing. But also with NC State having such a close tie to the military and a huge military connection, I think it’s an important next step for us as a university to set the pace and be the trendsetter in terms of establishing this type of memorial here on campus. I think this is going to help others hopefully be able to make a case for doing the same at their institution.”