For a cultural experience I wanted
to explore a community that was not necessarily ethnically different from me. I
think it’s easy to see when people look different than me, but I wanted to
explore a culture that I might not know exists without having talking to or
getting to know people within that culture. I remembered a student named Zach I
had trained during Welcome Week . He was white, male, had a beard that I could
see myself sporting if I wanted, and he had a similar build to me. During one
point in the week someone had asked if we were brothers. We weren’t, and still
aren’t, but I bring this point up because I want to show that from a first
glance, or just walking by this student looked no different than me, but he
belonged to a community that I really knew nothing about, and honestly had no
consciousness of their presence on our campus. Zach was a student Veteran.
At first I was curious to why there
was a 28 year old who was volunteering to be a Welcome Week Leader. My initial
reaction was that most non-traditional students returning to college wouldn’t
be interested in helping freshman out for a week. I got to know him and talked
throughout the week and found out he was a veteran of the Army. As his
supervisor, I got to hear about some of his struggles during the week, and his
reaction to certain things, and I noticed his perspective on a lot of the stuff
that happened was different than most of the Welcome Week Leaders. When given
this assignment I thought of this sometimes forgotten culture on our campus.
The Student Veteran Association hosts
an event every Friday around lunch time called ‘Pizza Friday’. They have free
Papa John’s pizza for anyone who wants to stop by, not just Veterans. The event
is hosted in their office space in Johnston Hall. The room didn’t have anything
really appealing about it. It looked like a normal room set up to serve pizza
and lounging. There were some posters and signage that was promoting other
events like Veteran’s Appreciation Day and their intramural games.
When I got there I was just trying
to take everything in, and grab some pizza. There weren’t a lot of people
there. I would say no more than 10 or 15 consistently while I was there. But
everyone seemed to have someone or a small group to talk with. When I was
getting pizza it must have been noticed that I was new. I was approached by a
guy that seemed pretty friendly. His name was Tom. I started talking to him,
and soon found out he was a Co-Treasurer for the Student Veterans Association.
After making small talk for a little bit, I talked to him about the
organization, Pizza Fridays, and asked about some of the struggles veteran
students had.
Tom told me that the group has been
around since 2005, and has changed location and structurally over the years. Tom
was telling me how veteran students have a 70% drop out rate, and struggle to
assimilate to college culture because of the age gap, and more importantly the
experience differences between veteran students and traditional students. The
group’s goal is to help veterans feel a sense of community within the school,
and to hopefully help increase the dropout rate. I had asked if he has seen, or
has anything that would suggest this number has improved since 2005 when the
group was started. He then explained how finding that number is not an easy
process, and historically they haven’t had the resources to find that. The
reason that number is difficult to find is because it’s hard to determine when
a veteran student drops out. Many students in this population are in the
reserves, or decide to serve another tour. When they leave for these reasons it’s
hard to decide if it should be considered a drop out, or if they will return to
school when they are done serving. Tom was telling me about one of his friends who
was deployed last week. He was a full time student here taking 17 credits, and
got a call and had to ship out in less than two weeks. This is not uncommon.
This is just one example of where some confusion of recording dropout rates
comes in.
Pizza Fridays, along with a
majority of the group’s programming, is a way to assist in further integrating
veteran students into the greater University community. Free food attracts
college student, and they have this event open to all. This brings students
like me in so I can learn from veterans, they can learn from me, and possibly
make some friends. This also facilitates a space where veterans can share their
stories, and listen to others. I didn’t hear or see a lot of this though. The
people in attendance seemed like they were just catching up or chatting like
friends would do. It seemed to me like they enjoyed the time and atmosphere,
and probably have already told their stories to each other. Tom told me that
that was common, and they all may have had a different experience, but they
experienced the same thing which created a bond between all of their members.
Having this event helps to engage
veteran and non-veteran students. The group’s other programs also serve a
similar goal. The group does BBQs in the fall at the beginning of the semester,
a Veterans Appreciation day and also a handful of intramural sports with
non-veteran students on their teams.
This was a really interesting
experience for me. The cultural differences between me and the members of the
Student Veterans Association weren’t necessarily apparent at first glance, but
they had drastically different outlooks on life from me. This group went
through similar programs in our military and that instilled a sense of
discipline, and respect. The events and programming that they do are very well organized
and they have a group of very loyal members who they can count on to be at
their events. Also, everyone there respected everyone else. Tom noticed I was
not usually there and introduced himself to me. He made me feel welcome. This
seems to be one of their values to. They want to integrate into the University.
All of their programs fit into this goal. But I think the reason this is one of
their goals is have a better retention rate, but not because it will look
better, but because they sincerely want fellow veterans to succeed in life
outside of the military. Being engaged on campus has proven time and time again
that it increases retention. Finding a group of people that make you want to be
a part of this community is key to retention. And if that group of people is
working towards a common goal the results can only get better.
Going back to questioning Zach’s
motives for being a Welcome Week Leader, I now understand. Talking with Zach
throughout Welcome Week I can see some of the stuff I learned by interacting
with the Student Veterans Association. He seemed to run a tight ship with his
group. He expected and gave respect to all of his students, and he was a very
reliable person. I knew he would be where he needed to be when he needed to be
there, and he would always ask relevant questions that would help not only
himself but the other Welcome Week Leaders we worked with. I understand that he
wanted to be a part of Welcome Week because this was another way to get
involved on campus and engage with the community. He had told me the week that
his students seemed to be really found of him and that’s something that is
probably really important to students trying to find their place in the
University community.
Meeting people and making friends
who can at the very least sympathize with their experiences is all the student
veterans wanted. That not only showed in their events, but I think they were achieving
that goal.
No comments:
Post a Comment