Military and Veteran Student Success Center prepares for the future

The former Carolina Veterans Resource Center rebranded this summer as the Military and Veteran Student Success Center. This isn’t just a name change, though. With the rebrand comes a new location and an evolution of the center’s mission statement.

Their scope of practice now serves members of the military and their dependents. The center will still offer peer advising and career workshops at the office, with plans to add other offerings.

“I think reaching out to military-affiliated students was a really organic decision,” said Rob Palermo, program director. “Over the years, it just seemed to become obvious that there was a need, and the center was the logical place for it to be met.”

Saywonza Cuevas, program coordinator, said that these military-affiliated students offer a unique perspective. “Whether they’re a spouse or a child of a veteran, they’ve moved all over, and things like that can be challenging,” Cuevas said. “The space gives them a place to hang out and learn about the benefits they can be receiving.”

The new space, suite 1310 of the Student and Academic Services Building South, makes the center more visible and accessible than before, Palermo said. Several days a month, undergraduate academic advisers and Veterans Affairs counselors will be available at the center. This will help student veterans and dependents craft their schedules and get a better understanding of their benefits.

“In our last location, we felt a bit isolated,” Palermo said. “But thanks to the new space and having more room, we have the ability to bring more outside visitors to come in and provide their services.”

The space itself is intended to be both a lounge area for students and a resource. The center’s goal was to create a place where military-affiliated students want to hang out, study or just chat with students who share the same life experiences.

“This is really meant to be a place where student veterans can kick back,” said Lindsey Hyde, a work-study student who also serves as the president of Carolina’s Student Veterans of America chapter. “There are couches, we had a pool table that got donated. It’s the type of place where people can just take a load off.”

Rest and relaxation are not the only benefits of the communal space. Cuevas hopes the center will be a place where generational gaps among veterans and military-affiliated students can begin to close.

“We want this to be a support space,” Cuevas said. “Older student veterans might see current career opportunities or new technologies and think that there’s not a place for them there. But by bringing in military dependents, who are often younger, they can begin to talk through peer support groups and find unique connections to help one another.”

While the center is already offering services, it will hold an official grand opening ceremony Nov. 13. In the meantime, the center hosts various workshops and weekly Taco Tuesday social events.

“We want military-affiliated students and families to know that there is a place for them at Carolina,” Palermo said. “They need a place where they can build community with one another. That’s what we’re here for.”