On Monday, Nov. 11, the nation celebrated those who have served in the United States Armed Forces for Veterans Day.
But here in Naperville, student groups at Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools are honoring veterans in the community through service of their own all year round.
North students connect with local veterans
Two years ago, then Naperville North sophomore Daniel Jurjovec came to his football coach, Kevin Benages, with an idea.
“One day, he just came up to me, he’s like, ‘Coach, I really want to start a veterans club, would you sponsor it?’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely,’” said Benages.
Daniel is the son of Naperville Responds For Veterans President Dan Jurjovec. He saw his father’s work in the community helping veterans in need and wanted to create an organization in the same vein at his high school.
“We couldn’t live the great life we live without the sacrifices veterans make for us,” said Daniel Jurjovec.
Since its inception, Naperville North Veterans Club has grown from 15 members to over 100. They meet in the school’s weight room on Tuesdays before class to hear from guest speakers, discuss initiatives like the Build a Christmas Tree project, and coordinate upcoming events with local veterans groups.
“It was all through reaching out to the (Judd Kendall) VFW (Post 3873), working with Staci Boyer, working with Nadia (Baran) over with the (Naperville) American Legion Post 43… and letting them know we’ve got this club and we’re here to support, put us to work,” Benages said.
Salute to Service Night spotlights area veterans
Recently, Naperville North Veterans Club held a Salute to Service Night during a football game to celebrate area veterans and raise funds for their organizations.
“We’ve made these challenge coins… our club members held them in our right hand, and then we shook the veteran military members and traded it off to them. And it’s one way to recognize the service, dedication, and hard work of another,” said Naperville North Veterans Club member and senior Maggie Flavin.
Stars and Stripes Club evolves into Central’s Veterans Club
Across the city at Naperville Central High School, the roots of a student veterans club can be traced back over 20 years.
“2003, (the country was) in Iraq. I saw young men and women choose to serve in a color other than red or white to serve their country, and if they volunteered to go, then the least I could do was do something for them,” said Longtime Naperville Central history teacher Mike Bochenski. “A group of young men who were considering joining the military came in and said, ‘Bo, what can we do?’”
Bochenski served as the sponsor of the Stars and Stripes Club, an unofficial student group focused on service for veterans that functioned on and off for 18 years.
“After COVID, the principal said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do Veterans Day in-person again… and you guys are running that veterans club, why don’t you help out?’” Bochenski said. “We became an official club.”
Naperville Central Veterans Club meets in Bochenski’s classroom every Thursday morning. The group of over 90 students welcomes guest speakers and discusses its initiatives, such as weekend visits to local nursing homes for morning coffee.
The club is in the midst of its holiday drive, Operation Support Our Troops.
“We just have boxes in every second floor class in our school,” Naperville Central junior Ava Rybarczyk said. “(For) simple things things that can be shipped to people who are deployed across the country… I really like the cause, and I know it’s (going to) make a lot of the troops happy.”
Rybarczyk said she feels motivated to serve with the club because of her family history of service with her great-grandfather, grandfather, and cousin.
Central welcomes Medal of Honor recipient
Every year Naperville Central Veterans Club coordinates a Veterans Day visit. This year, the featured speaker was Allan Lynch, a Medal of Honor recipient from his time in Vietnam.
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