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Veterans Day, Senior Day coincide for celebrations during final MC football match of the season

Nov. 9, 2023

In recognition of Veterans Day, Maryville College is waiving entrance fees to its Saturday, Nov. 11, football game with Southern Virginia University and asking fans to, instead, donate to the East Tennessee Veterans Honor Guard or Scottish American Military Society (SAMS).

The gates to Honaker Field open at 11:30 a.m. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

Laura Reed ’24, a Maryville College senior and president of the MC Student Veterans Association (SVA), will conduct the coin toss. The College’s student veterans will take the field at halftime for a special ceremony that will honor all servicepersons.

“If not for our veterans, we simply would not have the many freedoms we enjoy in the United States. We want to recognize their service and sacrifice,” said Sara Quatrocky, Maryville College athletics director. “We also want to take the opportunity to introduce our fans to these two worthy non-profits, which provide important services for veterans and their families and Maryville College.”

SAMS will present the colors before the game. Maryville College’s Tartanband will play the National Anthem, and several of the College’s American Sign Language students will sign the lyrics.

Members of the College’s SVA, along with Maryville College Director of Veteran and Military Services Dr. Jim Getman, will be present and will provide veteran benefit pamphlets, guides for veteran student success, decorative buttons and mini-American and Armed Forces flags. Donations for the two organizations will be taken at the SVA table.

Seniors recognized

The Scots head into Saturday’s game with a 7-2 record, their best since the 2016 campaign. It is the final game of the season, and 35 senior players and cheerleaders will be honored.

The Scots Walk from the McArthur Pavilion will start at 10:45 a.m. The senior football players will be recognized on the field, starting at 12:15 p.m.; the senior cheerleaders will be recognized at halftime, following the veteran program.

“Our seniors have contributed so much to our athletic program, and we want to recognize their hard work, perseverance and dedication,” Quatrocky said. “These students’ first year as Scots was spent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we had to follow rigid protocols, move the season to the spring and play a condensed schedule. I couldn’t be happier or more thankful to see them close out their remarkable playing and cheering days as they will on Saturday.”

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”