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Members of the FLC Veterans' Club stand on the edge of campus overlooking Durango.
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DURANGO - During the past year, Fort Lewis College has invested a great deal of time and resources into making FLC a more veteran-friendly campus.
Just a few of the highlights are the creation of the Fort Lewis College Veterans’ Club; a new FLC website devoted to resources for vets; an invitation to renowned speaker, author and veteran, Sgt. Andrew Brandi to speak on campus; and the proposal of a new course especially for veterans called “Soldiers to Scholars.”
The College recognizes the remarkable contributions and sacrifices made by those serving in the military, as well as the unique challenges that veterans face when returning to civilian life and school.
Sgt. Brandi came to campus to speak about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a condition affecting many veterans coming home. In addition, many veterans enter school as freshman, though they are several years older than their classmates. The age difference and the experience of being in the military can create a mindset very different from the average 18-year old freshman.
“I almost wanted to salute one of my professors the first day I started college,” remembers Trevor Peterson, who served with the 101st Airborne.
This different mindset can sometimes mean a veteran’s academic career begins with difficulty making friends and feelings of isolation. The FLC Veterans’ Club was created to help combat those lonely feelings.
“The military’s a part of anybody—anybody who has ever served,” explains FLC Veterans’ Club President Grant Birtcher. “People may try to hide it, but it’s always going to be there no matter what. Hanging out with like-minded people can be beneficial to anybody who’s had those experiences because no one else has—very few people have. That’s why we’re all here [as part of the Veterans’ Club].”
Ron Windmueller, a veteran of the Air Force, echoes Grant’s sentiment and encourages vets at FLC to give the club a chance. “[Military service] is that one common bond that holds us all together. Even if [veterans] don’t think they want to join the [Veterans’ Club], I’d say, ‘At least give us a try. Come in and check it out. If you don’t like it you don’t have to stay, but at least you know you had that group to come back to if you need it.’”
Some of the veterans at Fort Lewis College have faced issues coming back to school. Roy Malcolm, a Navy vet, misses the camaraderie of the military. Grant has been concerned by some opinions expressed by professors and students. However, on the whole, the veterans report that their experience at FLC has been a positive one.
“The experiences I’ve had are people are mostly interested,” Colter Boita, a veteran of the Army, says of his relationships with classmates and professors. “A lot of times people don’t know what questions to ask you and what boundaries you have.”
Colter explains that he’s pretty open about his experiences in the military and has spoken in classes here, as well as in schools in the community.
“It’s been a really good experience here at Fort Lewis,” he says.
For Trevor, it’s the personal attention he receives from his professors that appeals to him. “[The College is] a little smaller so you can actually go talk to your teachers after class if you need to and they know you by name, not by where you sit.”
“The teachers are great,” Ron agrees. “I’ve got a couple of teachers that I can call or email anytime if I have questions with the homework or any of the class work and they don’t hesitate to pick it up, email me back or explain it, even after they’re getting ready to leave. They don’t mind sitting down and helping out.”
“You have a lot of personal contact with professors,” says Colter. “You have a pretty small group of students compared to some other institutions that allows you to make that transition a little smoother from the military. So, I would say it’s a great transition.”
Furthermore, the vets feel like the education they’re receiving here is a quality one that’ll help them succeed in life.
“This school may be a liberal arts school,” says Grant, “but that type of education provides for a more well-rounded person and definitely opens your mind to all these different perspectives.”
“It’s hard at first,” he continues, “but after you keep learning more and more it keeps getting better and better.”
“Another huge bonus to this school is the number of degrees that are offered,” Ron observes. “Just in [the School of Business Administration] there are like eight or nine different degrees that are offered, which is just—for a liberal arts school—that’s huge. For any school, that’s really big. You’re definitely going to find something that interests you.”
There is more work to be done, but the College community is pleased to be assisting veterans in making a successful transition from soldier to student, and it seems that the College’s efforts are helping.
“I really appreciate what the Veterans’ Club and what the campus has done as far as bringing people from the VA facilities on campus to talk to us,” says Colter. “[The College has] done so much of the work where [vets] don’t have to go to a lot of these places. They come to us and it’s been really great.”
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