Students, faculty and staff at Derryfield commemorated Veterans’ Day with a special Community Meeting on Monday, November 10. Derryfield graduate Will Keller ‘10 gave the keynote address. Keller enlisted in the Marine Corps in May, 2015, and completed his service in September of 2025. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from Cornell University, and an executive MBA from The Wharton School.
Head of School Andy Chappell opened the meeting with an explanation of the paper poppies that were offered to the attendees as they entered the auditorium.
“The poppy reminds us of the soldiers who have given their lives in war, and serves as a visible sign of our respect and support for those who continue to serve. Its origins trace back to the famous World War I poem, In Flanders Fields, by John McCrae. McCrae was inspired by the sight of bright red poppies growing among the graves of fallen soldiers.”
Chappell then gave a short history of Veterans’ Day, originally known as Armistice Day, which was established at the conclusion of World War I. The armistice was signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, and President Woodrow Wilson made the national holiday official a year later. In 1954, the holiday was renamed Veteran’s Day, to honor all veterans of all wars.
After Charles Saunders ‘30 gave his rousing electric guitar version of the Star Spangled Banner, Sam Kellner ‘26 spoke of his own interest in serving the military.
“If you have ever asked me, ‘What do you want to do?,’ you probably heard me say something like, ‘I want to join the United States military.’ That’s been my dream for as long as I can remember. But a dream, no matter how much you talk about it, doesn’t mean much until you actually act on it. Right now, those words ‘I want to serve’ are just that: words. They don’t really carry any weight until I follow through. Veterans’ Day is about honoring the people who did something, the men and women who followed through on their promise to serve. They didn’t just dream about it or talk about it; they showed up, they sacrificed, and they fought for something bigger than themselves. Their service is the reason we get to live the lives we do today.”
Keynote speaker Captain Will Keller framed his presentation around the core values that Derryfield is uplifting this year–community and individuality, noting, “To me, that’s what Veterans’ Day is about–not just honoring service, but understanding our unity, and the shared human condition.”
He went on to explain, “What our military is so good at is allowing people to break out of their bubble, and expose them to different people and experiences.” Relating it to his own choice to go into the military, Keller said, “To me it was really about gaining a new perspective. As I grew up, I started to understand how sheltered my world was. I wanted to understand people who didn’t grow up with me, people with different stories, different backgrounds, different challenges, different perspectives. So the military, to me, was my way of breaking out of that bubble–I took a leap of faith.”
Keller summarized what individuality and community mean to him:
“The military is, by design, an organization where the needs of the individual have to be subsumed by the needs of the community. And yet there has to be a balance between the two. You can’t totally lose yourself for the group, but you can’t totally stand apart from that group either.”
He also shared an important message he learned early from a senior officer, “The mission, the team, and the community matter, but so does your integrity, your voice.”
The program concluded with a question and answer session with the audience.
