The United States Army Parachute Team, also known as the Golden Knights, made a surprise helicopter-to-field appearance before Prairie View A&M University’s final home game of the 2017 football season on Veterans’ Day. Six jumpers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina descended upon Panther Stadium, for the first time in PVAMU history, with a Military Appreciation Day game ball and a baton for newly-selected President-Elect Ruth J. Simmons.

“The jumpers had purple-smoke-producing machines tied to their shoes, and the crowd was chanting, ‘USA! USA! USA!’ during their six-minute performance. So, it really made for a spectacular event,” said Lieutenant Colonel Reginald Williams, department head of PVAMU’s Army ROTC program.

The Golden Knights presented Simmons, along with Provost Felecia M. Nave, and Danny Kelley, dean of PVAMU’s Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences with lithographs, or autographed photographs from the team.

“This university-sponsored event was pretty significant,” said Williams. “It showed an appreciation and a tremendous honor to our nation’s veterans, and it also showed PVAMU’s commitment to its Military Army ROTC program. Not to mention, PVAMU is the only HBCU in the nation the Golden Knights has performed at in 2017 – they performed at eight other college football games this year. Needless to say, that says a lot about our great university.”

According to Williams, there are only about 35 HBCUs across the country, including PVAMU, that host Army ROTC programs.

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-This story by Marchita Shilo originally appeared in Academic Insights.