UIS students tie hundreds of yellow ribbons to honor Veterans

University of Illinois Springfield students, veterans, and community members gathered on November 4, 2012 to tie yellow ribbons on trees around campus. The ribbons will honor veterans throughout the month of November.

UIS student Samia Ahmad, a junior criminal justice and political science major, came up with the idea as a way to honor her boyfriend who’s deployed overseas. When she told others, the project quickly grew.

“I wanted to tie one yellow ribbon on the tree outside my apartment and it expanded to where I started talking to people about it and they were like why don’t you do every tree on campus,” said Ahmad.

Among those who helped tie the ribbons were veterans Chad Sibley and Adam Raboin, who are currently working to finish their degrees at UIS.

“We have to recognize our veterans,” said Sibley. “If it wasn’t for our military we wouldn’t have the rights that we have now.”

Both Sibley and Raboin took time out to write the names of fellow service members on ribbons.

“To me it’s more of a memorial thing,” said Raboin. “We lost guys in my tour. Some of these ribbons actually have the names of those guys that we lost.”

Ahmad hopes that the yellow ribbon campaign will become an annual tradition at UIS.

UIS will also be holding a Veterans Day flag raising on Monday, November 12 at 9 a.m. in front of the Public Affairs Center.