{"id":204888,"date":"2024-10-31T13:01:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T17:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/?p=204888"},"modified":"2024-10-31T14:26:03","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T18:26:03","slug":"veterans-day-guest-speaker-theresa-cross-99-reflects-on-joining-the-orange-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/blog\/2024\/10\/31\/veterans-day-guest-speaker-theresa-cross-99-reflects-on-joining-the-orange-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans Day Guest Speaker Theresa Cross \u201999 Reflects on Joining the Orange Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11, the nation will pause to acknowledge and honor those who have served with the uniformed military services in defense of the United States of America. From coast-to-coast, the country\u2019s veterans will take part in public celebrations, cookouts, ceremonies and parades; though some may seem significantly smaller than those in years past.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. (Ret.) Theresa Cross ’99<\/p><\/div>\n

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Theresa Cross \u201999, who graduated from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in international relations, will be the guest speaker at the University\u2019s official observance of Veterans Day this year. Cross says that to her, Veterans Day is as \u201cAmerican as apple pie.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that makes it personally important for her to observe the day is the low percentage of citizens who do choose to serve, \u201cThe total number of people who have served in military service to our nation is around 6%. To me, that\u2019s a very small amount of people, and I think it\u2019s a small amount to pay for the many sacrifices that those people have made for our country,\u201d Cross says.<\/p>\n

Cross came to Syracuse University in 1997 on the U.S. Army\u2019s Green to Gold program, meaning she already had military service prior to coming to campus in pursuit of becoming a commissioned officer. Having obtained the rank of staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, Cross had considerable experience under her belt, including several deployments and having just come off a peacekeeping tour in Bosnia.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time I was married, I had two children, and I had done my time in the Army. I knew I needed help with the kids to go to school full time, and Syracuse was a family school,\u201d says Cross.<\/p>\n

\"Teresa

Theresa Cross ’99, center, with her family<\/p><\/div>\n

When Cross calls Syracuse University a \u201cfamily school,\u201d she means the school runs through her family\u2019s veins through multiple generations of Syracuse University alumni, including most recently her own daughter, who graduated from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the School of Education in 2014.<\/p>\n

Cross grew up in Syracuse; her mother graduated from the university in 1974, her brother in 1985 and sister in 1994. Cross knew her Orange family was ready to step in and support her in her academic goals. To this day, she\u2019s grateful for that support and the experiences that it allowed her to have during her studies.<\/p>\n

Cross went on to be an intelligence officer and a strategist officer; the latter meaning she helped translate national priorities into military strategies and plans as well as developed solutions for complex problems, encompassing a total of 28 years of service. One of the greatest lessons she carried with her back into military service after graduation was learning just how different things would be as an officer compared to her years of experience as an enlisted soldier.<\/p>\n

\"Theresa

Theresa Cross, second from left, with her Veteran sorority sisters at a Veterans Day event in Florida in 2023.<\/p><\/div>\n

“I had just come off a tour after being a staff sergeant for two years and deploying with the 18th<\/sup> Airborne Corps to Bosnia, so to make that move into the officer corps\u2013it was different,\u201d Cross recalls. While non-commissioned officers are the experienced enlisted troops who take on a mid-level management and leadership role, commissioned officers (NCOs) are generally the primary decision makers in a unit and responsible overall for the success of that unit\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ROTC program helped me make that transition a lot better. We had other NCOs on campus that worked with us through the program, and I think it was just one of the best preparations for my time as an officer; learning those things that I, as an enlisted person, didn\u2019t know about,\u201d says Cross.<\/p>\n

The University\u2019s celebration of Veterans Day will begin early in the morning on Nov. 11 this year. At 6:30 a.m., the Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA) will host the annual Veterans Day 5K Fun Run and Walk. Those interested in participating should RSVP<\/a> and plan on arriving a little early to meet fellow runners and warm up for the run.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, the doors to the K.G. Tan Auditorium at the National Veterans Resource Center will open for the 2024 Veterans Day Celebration which will start at 11 a.m. Those wishing to attend are encouraged to RSVP<\/a> by the close of business on Friday, Nov. 1.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11, the nation will pause to acknowledge and honor those who have served with the uniformed military services in defense of the United States of America. From coast-to-coast, the country\u2019s veterans will take part in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":380,"featured_media":204892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_post-type":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4371],"tags":[2719,10442,250,7062,5038],"class_list":["post-204888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-veterans","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-daniello-institute-for-veterans-and-military-families","tag-maxwell","tag-office-of-veteran-and-military-affairs","tag-rotc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/380"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204888"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204969,"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204888\/revisions\/204969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.syr.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}