OCC Awarded National "Military Friendly" Designation

Dominic Kastner knows how fortunate he and fellow student veterans are to have the support they receive in Onondaga Community College's Office of Veterans and Military Services. "This is a great school, and we know they don't have all of this at other schools. We have this office and spaces outside this office dedicated to veterans. It's reflective of the college being military friendly."

Kastner served in the United States Army for 5 years before coming to OCC. This year, he has served as President of OCC's Veterans Club on the way to completing his Liberal Arts & Sciences degree.

The office he works in has just been nationally recognized as Military Friendly for creating meaningful education paths for the military community, and commendable efforts in supporting veterans and service members. "It's easy to be military friendly here," said Steve White, a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and leader of OCC's Office of Veterans and Military Services. "The faculty is military friendly, the financial aid department is military friendly, the people who work in student accounts are military friendly, the administration is military friendly. All of the support we receive across this campus is military friendly."

White leads the office along with Lisa Mooney, Coordinator of Veterans and Military Services. She worked at the VA for more than 20 years before joining OCC in January. Together, White and Mooney guide nearly 200 students through the process of utilizing their GI Bill benefits.

"I'm very happy to be here," Mooney said. "I wanted to continue helping veterans, but in a higher education environment. We want everyone to feel welcome, to understand their benefits and how to use them, and to have the resources they need to be successful."

"The knowledge she brings is invaluable," added White. "She understands the framework of the GI Bill and the military culture."

The effort to connect with student veterans includes new initiatives this year. Anyone who applies to OCC who has connections to the military gets a phone call from current student veteran Jake Blackwelder. He lets prospective students know he and others in the Office of Veterans and Military Services are available to answer questions and are here to help in any way.

Also new this year is a peer-based Veterans Support Group that meets weekly. It's the idea of Jimmy Anderson, a mental health counselor at OCC who is also a United States Army Decorated Combat Veteran who served for more than 20 years, including a tour of duty in Iraq following 9/11. "We want to help facilitate personal and professional growth in self and others, while encouraging and supporting each other. It is a safe place where compassion and humility are welcomed," said Anderson. "We focus on emerging and contemporary mental health topics related to Veterans and their families transitioning from service members and dependents to college students. As a facilitator of this group and a Veteran, transitioning from a culture of 'no soldier left behind' to 'no students left behind,' has been inspiring, motivating, and successfully effective."

The Veterans Support Group meets every Wednesday from 12pm to 1pm in the Gordon Student Center, room G230R. And you can find OCC's Military Friendly Office of Veterans and Military Services on the second floor of Coulter Hall at the top of the main stairwell.