Virginia Western Community College is the first school in the state to start a national honor society chapter for veterans. It's called SALUTE.
"They want a little more recognition at commencement but they don't want to make a big deal," says Michele Hilts at VWCC, "As a member of SALUTE they get to wear the red, white and blue cord so it's visual but it's simple."
The chapter will also offer scholarships to student veterans. That includes Sgt. Paul Hill.
He's a second year student who plans to major in mechanical engineering. Hill is also a Marine who served two tours in Iraq.
Hill spent Friday taking part in VWCC's first roll call. All 6,313 names of the servicemen and women killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were read aloud. It took nearly eight hours.
"It's really important that the whole American public knows how much we have lost during this war," says Hill, "Knowing that guys I served with were on this list and that people were taking time out of their day to read their names off kind of touched home."It's a simple yet powerful way to make sure our veterans are never forgotten.
