From November 7th to November 14th, the trees throughout UIS’s campus were adorned with a bright yellow bow to show honor, respect, and support for our veterans.
From the dorms to the quad, to the entrances to campus, many trees were hand decorated by the UIS Volunteer & Civic Engagement Center, as well as student volunteers who found it in themselves to carry around a bag of supplies to make UIS just a little more yellow this fall.
“Basically, we’re just going around to all the trees that are on the campus and taking some yellow ribbon and tying it around in honor of our veterans.” Explained UIS student participating in the event, Madison Longenecker.
She shared her personal connection to the practice of tying yellow ribbons to trees, “My dad is a veteran, and I wanted to support him and his fellow veterans.”
Originating as a folk tradition, the 1973 song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”, by Tony Orlando and Dawn, brought the practice into the mainstream. The practice was additionally popularized by Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979, where then-president Jimmy Carter encouraged Americans to use yellow ribbons to keep Americans held hostage in their hearts as he negotiated for their release from Tehran. This is an American tradition that UIS works hard to keep alive, even to this day.
The ribbons were left up for a week, at which point the Volunteer & Civic Engagement Center hosted another event where students volunteered to walk around campus and remove the ribbon’s from trees.
Despite the temporary arrangement, this week-long message of support has certainly cemented that UIS as a whole has veterans in their hearts.
