Robert W. Zewski

Richard Drenkhahn, Chair Board of Selectman Town of Center Harbor Center Harbor, NH 03226

Dear Mr. Drenkhahn:

This is in response to your electronic mail to Biddy (Virginia) O’Brien regarding the new sign and bench for Belknap College. I am a graduate of Belknap and am puzzled by the comments made regarding the students at this particular college. I think I was fairly typical of the time. I had attended a two year community college and transferred to Belknap to complete my education. I found myself with many others who had done the same thing.

I was the first in my family to attend college, something my parents wanted very much. Belknap afforded me a quality education at a very reasonable cost. More expensive schools were definitely cost prohibitive. I found this to be one of the main factors which many of my new friends also considered when deciding to attend Belknap under the GI Bill. It was odd to have close friends older than I since most of them had served in the Air Force or Navy for four (4) years before choosing to enroll in Belknap. In my own case, having completed my education, I enlisted in the U. S. Army upon graduation in 1968.

I won’t bore you with the dozens of reasons why this Veteran is off base in singling out my school. I would be happy to meet with you or this individual to explain my reasoning further. We can meet by the sign that I helped pay for. You’ll recognize me by the Vietnam Veteran hat I wear on special occasions. It has a 25th Infantry Division logo on the front with my Bronze Star medal displayed next to it.

Respectfully,

Robert W. Zewski