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College can be Daunting for Veterans

lbrooks2016_2As we get closer to Veterans Day on Nov. 11, it reminds us of the little things we often take for granted.

The simple task of crossing a bridge on campus – is something that can leave a grown man terrified. Many of the campus bridges reminds one vet of the time when his vehicle rolled over a bomb in Afghanistan while on a bridge. The bomb killed many of his friends.

For other vets, it can be the simple task of walking into a classroom full of students almost half their age and becoming anxious, nervous and scared.

These are some of the emotions that many of our veteran students face on a daily basis. The transition for them is not easy.

On top of this, the admissions process for many veterans can be puzzling, said Betty Cunningham of the NVC Veterans Affairs Office.

“Military members transfer and may take a few courses at the local college/university at each duty station,” she says. “Having to provide official transcripts from each college attended can cost time and money.  Some courses transfer and some do not.”

Betty adds veterans sometimes enroll in college-level math courses they are not prepared for since they are exempt from the TSI Assessment, or the state test that determines if students are college ready. The Veterans Administration will not pay for developmental courses unless it is shown that these courses are required.

Over the years, Northwest Vista College has introduced a variety of services to help veterans and now calls its more holistic approach Vet to Vet. Faculty and staff veterans represent different areas of the college to provide support services from advising, counseling, tutoring to mentoring. Under the Vet to Vet umbrella, NVC Student Activities also brings speakers and community resources to help veterans. This fall semester, NVC has almost 1,700 students using some type of VA or military education benefits.

In the last year, the NVC Veterans Affairs Office also has added more advisors that can work individually with veterans and their needs. A part of this advising includes the much-needed math intervention from Jesse Harbert of the NVC Math department, who is also a veteran. He works closely with veterans to make sure they get into the right math course before feeling frustrated because its too hard and eventually dropping the class.

Vet to Vet also sponsors a Veterans Lounge and Resource Center on the second floor of Pecan Hall – one of the only veterans lounges in the Alamo Colleges. One female student who utilizes the lounge said it makes her feel “safe.” Other veterans have commented that they like the camaraderie they feel being among fellow veterans.

While NVC’s Access Office is available to all students, many veterans have found this service a vital resource to receive counseling and disability help.

NVC student Lionel T. Brooks, who served in the U.S. Army for almost 11 years, said coming to college for him was like being a “newborn.” He credits Sharon Dresser of the Access Office, for playing a major role in his success.

He remembers it was Sharon who helped him through a really rough patch in his college career.

“I was driving on Loop 1604 and just stopped in the middle of the highway and started crying and yelling. I couldn’t take it anymore. At that point, I didn’t care.”

lbrooks_mblackmon2016_2After being impacted by three different bombs while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, Lionel not only had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but severe back pain, financial problems and a looming divorce. Life was starting to fall apart for him and he was about to check himself into a mental health care facility. Lionel also thought he wasn’t doing so well in college.

But Sharon convinced him otherwise and gave him words of encouragement. Now, he’s just seven classes away from earning his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M San Antonio while taking a few more at NVC. On top of that, he’s received a few job offers from governmental agencies in the IT security field.

Lionel said at NVC he found a support system that helped him through the bad times. This included Sharon and another veteran and good friend, Marshall Blackmon. They both received their associate degrees from NVC this past May.

Lionel said it was also NVC Math Professor, Dr. Dennis Gittinger, who got him and Marshall connected with Vet to Vet. Lionel said sometimes it was just Dennis giving him one word of praise that changed his mood for the day.

“Military taught me honor and values and that when I look at a challenge to over come it,” Lionel said. “But with my injuries, I had to learn how to talk again and that was a big challenge for me in college. I was scared to actually speak in class and college is about meeting people and collaboration. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and figure out a way to get through it. If there’s a way in, there’s a way out.”

2 Comments

  1. Towanna J Benjamin

    Reply

    I am Lionel’s mother I am extremely proud to be his mother he has made me very happy I want u to keep on pushing your way thru and with GODS help u will make it to the other side remember put GOD first in every thing u do

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