Vets’ new facility ready for meet and greet

UCF's Veterans Academic Resource Center will host a meet and greet on Feb. 3 to offer student veterans a chance to check out what the new facility has to offer.

The VARC enables student vets to meet with veterans and receive assistance tailored specifically to their needs.

The center, which is located in Knights Plaza across from Barnes & Noble, is a part of the Registrar's Office.

Two years ago Jim Middlekauff, Assistant Registrar for Veterans Services proposed one central space where veterans could come to have questions answered. The center had its grand opening in November.

"Veterans who return to the classroom often have different needs than the typical college freshman or transfer student," said Paul Viau Jr., Associate University Registrar. "They are used to going to one place on a military base that will have the information that they might need."

"We hope that the VARC will be that starting point for them to make a smooth transition to college life."

Viau said that the center employs four full-time professionals who work at the Veteran Services office as well as five professionals that are being shared with other Student Development and Enrollment Services offices. There are also five student veterans who are work-study workers.

The center includes many benefits for student veterans, including a lounge located in the front lobby where students can catch up on homework or watch the news, computer kiosks to fill out forms, counseling and advising as well as four study rooms where students can receive tutoring.

The Student Academic Resource Center will provide the tutoring as well as other student success workshops.

UCF has more than 900 student veterans and about 250 military dependents who use the VARC services, according to Viau.

Doraida Persad, a junior exceptional student education major, is one of those dependents.

Persad's father served in the Vietnam war where he was injured and became a veteran.

Persad does most of her work online but said that she will take advantage of the online programs such as Smart Thinking, an online tutoring program provided by SARC.

Persad said the new center is "homey" and said that she likes that the VARC is away from other offices on campus and that she can come directly to the center for assistance rather than going to Millican Hall where Veterans Affairs was previously housed.

"It's definitely good to know that if at any case I have any questions or any ideas or anything like that that I have people that I can come to and talk to" Persad said.

Persad hopes that in the future she will be able to certify her hours online and e-mail them in.

In the fall, the VARC hopes to provide student veterans with a virtual Veterans Academic Resource Center that could help Persad to do just that.

According to Chad Binette, of UCF News & Information, the virtual center will be supported by a U.S. Department of Education grant. UCF was the only Florida public university to receive the designation and accompanying $367,000 grant.

In addition to the grant, UCF has also been recognized for its veterans services by other media outlets.

UCF was recognized by G.I. Jobs magazine as being one of the top military friendly schools for 2009-2010.

According to Binette, UCF was also recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education, which ranked UCF No. 18 on its 25-school list of national institutions that enroll the most students with veteran benefits.

In addition to the meet and greet on Thursday, the VARC Counseling Center will also offer a "Lunch and Learn" from noon to 1 p.m. This weekly workshop is a chance for student veterans to bring their lunch and learn tips from adjusting to college to relationships.

The Veteran's Transition Group is another workshop that will meet on Thursdays after the Lunch and Learn from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The group workshop serves as a time for student veterans to chat with other student veterans and to learn how to apply their life experiences to life at UCF.

Viau said that more programming for student vets and programming for the UCF community about veterans issues are also planned for the future.

"We want to make others aware of the unique needs of our vets and what a great resource they are to the UCF community," Viau said.