CSVA supports student veterans

The Carolina Student Veterans of America brings Tar Heel student veterans a sense of community, through volunteering and friendship.

CSVA is a student-run organization that aims to provide veteran and military-affiliated students with resources, opportunities and support to help facilitate a successful transition to campus life and build a strong foundation for success at Carolina and beyond.

One of the most active chapters within Student Veterans of America, which has chapters in all 50 states, CSVA is open to all undergraduate, graduate and professional school student veterans and their families.

CSVA works in partnership with the Military and Veteran Student Success Center, serving as an advocate for student veteran awareness and well-being across the University.

“UNC was my top choice because of their strong military programs and advisers. It’s a big deal that a university knows how to help their student veterans,” said Maddie Hoffman, a senior and CSVA vice president. “The CSVA was a big pull for me to come here because you can see how involved the veterans are with the community and how much UNC values their veteran population and student veterans. Being at a school that helps us utilize military benefits, creates events for veterans and has those military appreciation games makes me feel welcomed.”

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Since most veterans returning to school are 25 or older, the CSVA also helps them re-acclimate to the academic world.

Lindsey Meier, CSVA president and now 31, found it hard to make the transition. She graduated from high school in 2012 and joined the U.S. Marine Corps two years later. When her husband was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, she enrolled at Craven Community College in New Bern, North Carolina.

There she heard about the Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program and transferred to Carolina in 2023. Resources on campus, like a work-study job at the MVSS, helped with her adjustment.

“That’s another reason working at the MVSS is great because we can help people navigate and answer questions,” said Meier, who wants to pursue city planning. “We are all in it together and support each other. I’ve loved having a support system and connecting with people our age that have similar life experiences.”

Hoffman agrees. She served in the U.S. Army for four years after high school, stationed at Fort Bragg, where her brother and fiancé are also stationed. She enrolled at Carolina to stay close to family and wants to work in clinical psychology in the Veterans Affairs hospital system.

“That transition can be daunting when you have been out of academics for four, five, six years,” she said. “Having this community to bounce ideas off and having the ability to reach out to people and find veterans who are in the same major as you or in the same classes as you is super helpful.”

(Submitted photo)

In the community, CVSA members have helped with Habitat for Humanity builds and spent time with veterans. Hoffman acknowledges the high rates of PTSD, suicide, alcohol use and mental health disorders in the veterans community and how sharing resources around those is important.

“We want to continue building this organization and showing veterans that school is possible, our communities are going to support them, and they’re not alone,” said Hoffman.

Those community events often offer friendship as well. Meier and Hoffman met in Student and Academic Services Building North for a veterans orientation and grew closer at CSVA events and in their personal lives. Hoffman supported Meier at her wedding this summer, and Meier is looking forward to being in Hoffman’s wedding next.