Ceremony also maks Marine Corps 239th birthday
MiraCosta College held a dual celebration for the military at
its Oceanside campus Monday with a cake to recognize the 239th anniversary of
the Marine Corps and a ribbon-cutting to open a new Veterans Center.
The number of veterans enrolled in colleges and universities has
been steadily increasing in recent years as service members return from
Afghanistan and Iraq.
At MiraCosta, the new 1,600-square-foot Veterans Information
Center will serve about 1,500 veterans, family members and active-duty military
members enrolled at the school. That’s up from about 900 in 2004, said public
information office Cheryl Broom.
The college kept the cost of the new center to $75,000 by using
money from its general fund to refurbish the school’s old arts building, which
had been slated for demolition. Furniture for the space was donated by Bill
Kuhner of BKM Officeworks.
“We have here a place for veterans to relax,” said MiraCosta
interim President Dick Robertson. “A place for veterans to study. A place for
them to know that MiraCosta College cares for them.”
The new center is about four times the size as the old one,
which had been in the office of Gilbert Hermosillo, former dean of
administration and student support services.
Inside, students can watch TV on two large couches in a
540-square foot lounge, work on eight computers in a 180-square-foot lab or
meet with peer advisers in one of several rooms to discuss class schedules,
benefits and other issues.
Besides
opening the new Veterans Information Center, MiraCosta College in Oceanside
celebrated the 239th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps on Monday. Following
tradition, the oldest Marine vet on campus, 57-year-old Brenda Olsen, sliced
the cake and served the youngest Marine vet, Alex Stephens, 24. —
Charlie Neuman
Peer adviser Nate Bond, who served 10 years in the Marine Corps
before coming to MiraCosta last year, said the extra room provides more privacy
to talk with students about their problems transitioning into civilian life.
“They go from doing specifically one thing every single day, and
then they have to change that to doing something else every single day,” he
said. “Everyone thinks it’ll be an easy transition, but it’s not.”
Aaron Kumada, who has been enrolled at MiraCosta off and on
since leaving the Marine Corps in 2010, said veterans are very self-reliant
people who can find it hard to ask for help. He's glad he asked for help from
the peer advisers, though.
"They're experienced students, so they let me know which
classes I should take before others," he said. "They let me know the
sites I could go to to track my benefits. "I probably would have wasted
two semesters if I didn't have the guidance from the counselors who were working
here."
This was the second veterans center to open on a North County
college campus this year. Cal San Marcos Marcos University opened a center in
September, Mesa and Mira colleges opened centers about a year ago and a
veterans center is under construction at San Diego City College.
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