Amid the annual assembly and the presence of alumni on Veterans Day, Poly Prep students Isabelle Kelley ’27 and Marley Parikh ’29 expanded on how Poly recognizes veterans through a partnership with a new student-run club, PolyVETS. The club has been putting up posters featuring Poly veterans and pushing for their stories to be discussed more. 

The PolyVETS club was inspired by Kelley and Parikh’s veteran family members, whom they wished to honor. “Veterans are so overlooked, and they deal with so many issues that aren’t talked about enough. Yes, they did serve for us and put our lives before their own, but they’ve also come back and had to deal with so many systemic issues,” said Parikh. This club partnered with the nonprofit organization Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) 126 foundation, cofounded by Parikh’s veteran father and grandfather. VVA 126 has had over 300 years of veteran support experiences, and has no plan to stop. “The purpose for the foundation is to provide funding for research and practices which help foster, encourage, and promote the improvement of the condition of Vietnam Veterans and all other veterans in the New York City area,” according to the VVA 126 website.  

On October 18, at Homecoming, PolyVETS had a table set up for the day, accepting donations directly to VVA 126. They have also placed “Hometown Hero” posters throughout the hallway at Poly Veterans to commemorate specific members of the community. PolyVETS meets the first half of clubs, from 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. each cycle-day 4, discussing their accomplishments and finding new ways to bring more recognition to veterans within the Poly community. “With the current events happening, [Veterans] are very overlooked. They’re associated with a lot of America, which is a very controversial topic right now,” said Kelley. “We’re trying to raise awareness to the fact that these people have served for us, and there are people who have dealt with so many issues, and they deserve to be recognized,” added Parikh.