Veteran Supportive Institution
Growing up, I remember painting houses in the summers as a part time job. The location, the Midwest, the issue, the wind. The wind is always blowing there and it made even beautiful days a test of my fortitude. I was young, and athletic back in those days, so roofing and painting were something I could do on hot summer days to make a little extra scratch for those summer nights with friends. I would get up early in the morning, drive to the house, barn or cabin I would be painting and set things up and climb the ladder and get to work, scraping old paint, priming and painting with the fresh coat, eventually bringing the old midcentury or before home back to life. This all seems serene and enjoyable but there were times way up on the ladder that the wind would be begin to blow, the ladder would sway a bit, my paint bucket would rock back and forth and I needed to hold onto the wall of the home just to keep from being tipped over. If I am being honest, I am not afraid of heights but I am afraid of falling off of a ladder two stories up isn’t something I wanted to do. But alas, that is all the equipment provided me and I did the best I could. The paint job at times wasn’t stellar, the wind blew the paint off my brush, off my roller, there were splatters or bubbles and I couldn’t do anything about it. The ladder I stood upon was not steady and it didn’t give me the support I needed to be the best painter I could be on those summer days. One day, I was offered a painting job on a lakeside cabin. I thought to myself, what a great opportunity to paint a place close to the water. I could paint five or six hours a day and have my buddies meet me at the lake later in the afternoon and we could spend sometime on one of the family boats tied up at the marina in the evenings. I arrived just like I always did, early in the morning (my dad was a task master and required my work ethic to be above reproach) I unloaded my tools walked around to the lake side of the cabin and to my amazement, there it was in all its glory, scaffolding! I had never painted on scaffolding before, but had seen professionals use the structure and had often envied them. No swaying in the wind, a place to sit my water, the paint bucket and even my lunch box. I shimmied up the scaffolding, turned and looked out at the lake and sat down for a few minutes and enjoyed my cup of coffee looking out over the water, this would be the best paint job I had ever done and probably one of the best summers I ever had growing up.
I have often equated the usual student veteran support at institutions of higher learning as a ladder. Schools who claim to be or have even been “qualified” as military friendly offer unsteady support in the windy world of higher ed. The student veteran can make their way on their journey but just like me, find themselves holding onto the side of the house trying not to fall. As a veteran myself, and one who has been on both sides of student veteran support, I can attest to the structure or lack thereof, built to take care of our veterans when they enter the odd new world of college and once I was in a position to change that, I began by building a scaffolding that would support our student veterans in the hopes they would have the same serenity I did as I sat looking out over the lake that day and have done what I can do to bring about what I call a military supportive institution rather than just a friendly one. I will describe in this short article, what goes into a military supportive institution and a scaffolding approach gives greater support and success for student veterans who are admitted into your institution.
Scaffolding level one. The level closest to the ground should be one that is as familiar to the military as it can be so that stepping onto that level feels comfortable or normal to the student veteran. What it looks like can differ from place to place but what I have found is some of this scaffolding should even have some military lingo that is normalized across the branches. For instance, the person working within the admissions space that helps with military connected learners should have the word military or veteran or both in their title and this should be clearly indicated on your website to offer a comfort. Of course, is also my contention that this person should be a veteran who has walked the path into higher education and knows how to matriculate the system in the most seamless way possible. They should be a SME (Subject Matter Expert) in all things admissions and be the point of contact for veterans as they work to become admitted to your institution. I understand this can be difficult and if your school can afford two of them, I recommend spending the money on them because it will pay off for your team and your institution in the long run. Think of this time frame like you would the reception station when going to your basic training. You have people who are in charge, you don’t really know anything but are a willing and able participant just looking for direction so you can be the best service member possible. Here too, the Veteran and Military admissions specialist is here to help you become the best student veteran possible on this first level of the scaffolding of support. Additionally, in this level, if you haven’t already done so, ensuring your veterans center has a taste of military in its décor can also have a comforting effect on student veterans. Branch flags dressed right dressed, wall art that depicts the military community, some literature, military times, and by all means a fresh pot of joe waiting for them (this by the way, is an expert level tip) when they visit. The first step up on the scaffolding is going to be a scary one no matter how you look at it so making it as comfortable as you can will be a win for you and your institution.
The next level up on the scaffolding remains tied in name to the military. Here resides the onboarding team with checklists on what needs to be done. The admissions specialist makes sure there is a strong updated list of student veterans who are working on being admitted and softly hands those student veterans off to their sponsor team. This sponsor team can consist of full-time staff at your center or you can use VA work study students/peers who can easily connect with the incoming student because they just went through the process recently as well. The sponsors will be with the student veteran from their admissions processing all the way through their first semester. Just like when a service member PCS’s from one duty station to the next they are assigned a sponsor that shows them the post or base. They ensure they know where the commissary is, where to get chow, where the PX is and where they can get their PT on at the gym. This sponsor is significant because it is really the first person on the post they will come in contact with and will likely form a bond with them on their new journey. The sponsor I speak of does much the same. Using a checklist, they ensure the student veteran knows how to apply for the educational benefits from the VA, knows how to get that verification to the institution of higher education they have chosen to be a part of and teaches them the new rhythm of college, when things are due, and why it is important. The sponsor tells the new student veterans where the veteran resource center is, where the best place to get food is and maybe some local hot spots for downtime. They welcome them and help them feel like family, hopefully forming a bond the student veteran can depend on during their time at your college or university.
A level up we begin to form a foundation for community. Informally, I have polled hundreds of student veterans by asking them what the miss most about the military and I would say around 95% of those polled say, the camaraderie I had with my buddies. Often times we stay in the service for this very reason and if we get out, we will miss those we served with. Having a space to build community for student veterans at your institution is the key to retention and persistence and to the overall wellbeing of those students. There is a myriad of ways you can build community for your student veterans and the only thing that holds you back from them is probably budget or a lack of imagination. If you served, think back to all of the imaginative ways you and your friends built your community in the military. They usually revolved around fitness, food, and fermented goods! Take time to have welcome events, networking events, socials, balls, hikes, runs. You build it, they will come. They long for it and you will be paid back by them sticking with it and graduating on to amazing careers one day.
Next level of the scaffolding requires that you build out and away from the veteran centric approach. Not the student veteran at first but you as an organization supporting student veterans. More than likely you don’t run the academic part of your institution so you will need buy in from staff and faculty across your institution to help steady your student veterans’ journey. At this level, connecting and training staff and faculty on the military and veteran culture is a must. I know first hand that this was not something our center did until I helped develop the training. Essentially, we were expecting staff and faculty who had no experience with our military culture to be able to understand us and help us without any training to do so and no one likes to be set out on a mission without good training preparing us for it. If your state or university leadership doesn’t already require this type of training, I recommend you build it yourself and make sure it associates to your institution as you know not all colleges and universities are the same. After the development of the training and hard work you will begin to see faculty members understand some of the ideocracies of our military sub culture and they can better assist student veterans to achieve greatness in the classroom just like they achieved it on the battlefield. Along with providing the training and connecting the rest of your staff and faculty into the student veteran’s success, in this level of the scaffolding the connection to the student orgs at your institution is a viable and expansive way to build support for student veterans. Get them connected to students across the university and they are more likely to feel supported and succeed because of it. Within this level it is actually important to begin building career connections for your student veterans for the future. There is no better time to start thinking about your career than right now, is what we tell our student veterans on their first day at our institution. We mean it because we know student veterans are non-traditional students, 40% of them have dependents, most have part time or full-time jobs while attending college and they aren’t hear from the “party” vibe they want the degree so they can support their families. For them to come to college means they want to increase the likelihood of landing a dream job or at least one that pays them what they are worth. Make sure to get to work building connections with veteran supportive employers and get your excellent student veterans in front of them because if you do, they will hire them.
The final level of the scaffolding is where peace is achieved. It is where the student veteran is able to look out over the lake and know they are going to be just fine. This level is called the personal wellness structure. Taking a holistic approach to student veterans wellbeing is essential to their success. Here is my theory after working several years in higher education and over two decades leading troops in and out of combat operations, the military is brilliant in creating team. In fact, no matter the length of time you spend in the military, you come to believe that your value is only really found in your team. And I think this is imperative when you are trying to fight and win wars, so I have no qualms with the reasoning behind this. Unfortunately, what I have seen with veterans coming out of the service is that because that was taught to them and indoctrinated in them, they struggle to find personal value in themselves apart from that team. This is a difficult situation coming into the civilian world but in higher education and the workforce, individual value is what counts. With this theory stated, where does that leave us who are trying to help our student veterans succeed as individuals? It leaves us with one choice really, to do what we can to add value back into the veteran that is their own. You do this through allowing the student veteran to find what they are truly passionate about and study it, instead of making them believe that they are only going to be successful in the three things the ASVAB told them the were good at. You give them back their agency by giving them choices after being told when and where to be at all times of the day. You afford ways to heal from trauma they may have went through that doesn’t just involve medication and hospitalization as an only resort. Through programming from your center and partnerships with non-profits in your community who want to help veterans you can develop excellent ways to provide value adding moments for the student veterans in your school.
In the end, no one and I mean no one, wants to be stuck out on a swaying ladder in the wind, where all you have is a hope and a prayer you won’t fall and all is lost. Veteran suicides still exceed 20 a day which is 20 too many. Student veterans are not immune to this, the pressure is high to achieve success. Families and generations are relying on some of these student veterans to get the career that will save them. Its hard work and its scary work. Build a scaffolding, become a military supportive intuition and add value back into to your student veterans, who knows you might just save a life.
