2014 veterans day tab
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The 2014 Veterans Day tab of The Daily AthenaeumTRANSCRIPT
VETERANS DAY EDITIONThe Daily Athenaeum
November 11, 2014
THE DAILY ATHENAEUM Tuesday November 11, 20142 | VETERANS DAY
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by jake jarvismanaging editor @jakejarviswvu
It’s that time of year again.
Each year, on Veterans Day, the staff of The Daily Athenaeum looks forward to crafting our annual Vet-erans Day Tab.
It’s always a joy to learn about the many opportu-nities West Virginia Uni-versity has to offer to the countless student vet-erans that attend this institution.
I came to WVU drag-ging my feet. I hoped to attend a different Univer-sity, but fate dealt me a different hand. Originally I resented my institution.
I slowly grew to have a strong sense of pride for it.
I saw the many won-derful degrees students could pursue, the active
group of student organi-zations and a committed faculty that advised me to push myself beyond what I thought was possible.
Needless to say, my blood changed from red to old Gold and Blue. When “Take Me Home (Coun-try Roads)” plays, I can’t help but scream it at the top of my lungs — no mat-ter where I am.
Sup er ma rket? OK . Maybe I whistle it there.
What I didn’t expect to grow to love about this in-stitution was its commit-ment to veterans.
Unlike many, I never had the direct impact of a veteran in my life. None of my grandparents or par-ents served our country.
Still, in elementary, middle and high school, I learned all about the sac-rifice that serving in the armed forces requires.
I was struck one day when i learned that a co-worker of mine served in the armed forces.
It all became real to me. I immediately had a
deeper respect and admi-ration for veterans. While we might not always agree on the war we fight, I think it’s safe to say we always appreciate those willing to lay down their lives for the freedom of United States citizens.
As we’ve been creating this special edition over the last week, the entire staff of The Daily Athe-naeum has done its best to match the excellence that veterans exemplify.
Though Veterans Day is once a year, let’s all remember the few, the proud and the brave who serve.
Remember our vets every day PAGE 4
Female veterans important to WVU communityWhile West virginia University is considered a military-friendly school, anita mayer, director of the office of Transitional Programs, recognizes there is still much to be done for its veteran students, particularly those who are female.
“We realized that we were offering all of these services, but that women needed different services,” mayer said. “one would think that would be an innate sort of thought, but it wasn’t for us. We were doing the exact same thing that everybody does, which was automatically picturing a male when thinking about a veteran.”
Night club Boomers hosts Patriot Glow Party
PAGE 5
New morgantown nightclub boomers is stepping into the downtown nightlife scene by making a positive impact and hosting a series of charity events throughout the year.
The Patriot glow Party will help raise money for a veterans lounge and the future fundraising and operations of the West virginia University veterans club. boomers’ target goal is $3,500.
PAGE 7RBA program offers degree flexibility for student veterans at WVUUnlike typical bachelor’s degrees, the Regents bachelor of arts degree allows students to receive college credit for experiences outside of the traditional classroom. for student veterans, the West virginia University Rba program serves as an innovative, flexible opportunity to count the skills attained in a veteran’s service toward a college degree.
THE DAILY ATHENAEUMTuesday November 11, 2014 VETERANS DAY | 3
Located on Hartman Run Rd. Between the Mileground & Sabraton
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The Adult Toy BoxxxThank You Veterans
by rachel mcbridestaff writer
@dailyathenaeum
West Virginia Univer-sity implemented the Yel-low Ribbon Program, a bill that helps veterans afford the costs incurred while attending college, for stu-dent veterans at the grad-uate level.
Since 2009, veterans who have served on active duty for 36 months have been eligible for monetary assistance at the under-graduate level through the Yellow Rib-bon Program. The program is a product of the 9/11 GI Bill. Now, veterans who want to use the assistance to continue their education at a gradu-ate level are able to do so.
Some of the costs the program helps cover are tuition and money for textbooks. The fi-nancial assistance also helps ensure veterans re-ceive the best education possible.
Almost 300 veterans at WVU qualify for the Yellow Ribbon Program. The main concept behind the pro-gram is for WVU to make up the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition. The West Virginia state law declares 50 per-cent of the difference be-tween instate and out-of-state tuition must be
matched by the Veterans Affairs. This helps ensure that as little to no cost at all is placed upon veterans at-tending college.
“This is important be-cause it shows how much we care about those that serve,” said Jerry McCar-thy, the director of WVU Veterans Affairs.
The process of convinc-ing all colleges to join the program at a graduate level was a long, but successful process, he said.
“It took three years to get everyone on it. This year was the biggest push,” Mc-Carthy said.
The schools within WVU had considerations to take into account. This included the number of students they could allow into their programs, while calculat-ing how much revenue would be lost.
Regardless of the few cons that were present, ev-ery college at WVU was on board with the idea, and the end result was success-
ful for the Yellow Ribbon Program.
“It’s all about offering them (the veterans) an op-portunity to be a student at WVU,” McCarthy said.
When asked about the program, many students responded positively, ex-pressing a desire to sup-port and help those who have helped by serving the country.
“It’s definitely a good thing. They fought for our country. They should be
able to go to school,” said Josh M c G r a t h , a senior at WVU.
S o p h o -more Mor-
gan Spolarich felt the same way.
“I think it’s a good idea,” she said. “If they are will-ing to serve us, they should be able to come to school. They sacrificed years.”
Although each WVU col-lege will decide individu-ally whether to continue the Yellow Ribbon Pro-gram each year, McCarthy is confident the program will be present in future years.
yellow ribbon program benefits veterans at WVU
en.wikipedia.com
Visit WVU’s VA Program & the Yellow Ribbon program’s website — http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2014/08/18/all-schools-and-colleges-at-wvu-to-participate-in-yellowribbon-program
This is important because it shows how much we care about those that serve
“”
THE DAILY ATHENAEUM Tuesday November 11, 20144 | VETERANS DAY
Thank You Veterans!
Thank You Veterans!
wvuveterans.wvu.eduwvuveterans.wvu.edu@WVUVeterans@WVUVeterans@@@@@@@@@@@WW@@@@@@W@W@@@@@@@@WWWW@W
WVU Libraries are investing in student
veteran success.You supported us,
now we support you.
Thank you from all of us at WVU Libraries
www.libraries.wvu.edu
by lauren caccamocorrespondent
@dailyathenaeum
While West Virginia Uni-versity is considered a mili-tary-friendly school, Anita Mayer, director of the Office of Transitional Programs, recognizes there is still much to be done for its veteran stu-dents, particularly those who are female.
“We realized that we were offering all of these services, but that women needed dif-ferent services,” Mayer said. “One would think that would be an innate sort of thought, but it wasn’t for us. We were doing the exact same thing
that everybody does, which was automatically picturing a male when thinking about a veteran.”
Through an up-and-com-ing initiative, Women Veter-ans United, Mayer said she hopes to encourage female veterans to identify them-selves and network with each other in order to facili-tate their transition through higher education, and to support each other through day-to-day challenges.
“We’re trying to give fe-male veterans a voice,” Mayer said. “The men are doing quite well. They’re or-ganized, they meet regularly, and they’ve done some fan-
tastic fundraisers. They’ve taken ownership of that. But women and men are differ-ent. The women are finding it difficult to find one another on campus, thus, making it difficult to possibly fit in. So we want to give them a voice. We want to give them each other.”
Laura Jones, 26, expressed similar observations from her experiences as a student veteran at WVU.
“Female veterans are less likely to go to an area where male veterans meet,” Jones said. “It’s not necessarily that those male veterans are the problem, it’s just that we have such negative expe-
riences in the military with our male counterparts that they don’t want to be around them anymore.”
After being stationed in both Japan and California, Jones transferred to WVU last school year and joined Vet-erans of WVU, an organiza-tion on campus that supports all student veterans and pro-vides them social opportuni-ties. Being the only female in the group, Jones was drawn to Women Veterans United initiative in hopes of reach-ing out to students more like her.
“The experience has given me a lot more stability at school. I came here not really remembering anything from high school or not really hav-ing a way to connect with the students younger than me because I’m so much older than most,” Jones said. “But it’s also given me an opportu-
nity to have some social sup-port. I’ve made some really great friends—female vet-eran friends—and we spend most of our time together, and that’s been a God-send.”
Currently, WVU offers all student veterans numerous opportunities and benefits, such as free tutoring, free counseling, and a veterans-only “adventure” through the Adventure West Virginia program.
Jones said she believes that many female student veterans may be unaware of the programs and funding dedicated to veterans.
“There’s so much valuable information that would really help in college, and that’s why this initiative is so im-portant,” she said.
Because student veterans are often unidentifiable with-out coming forward, Mayer says the University is taking
steps to prepare incoming faculty to handle challenges they often face in the class-room. She also called on stu-dents to take similar steps to support Veterans.
“This generation of stu-dents whose parents opted for a war, those men and women who opted on their own to fight, are your broth-ers and sisters,” she said. “It’s really your generation. So, we need students that are not veterans to rally for veterans, to recognize veterans.”
Mayer suggested non-vet-eran students who wish to get more involved should at-tend events Women Veter-ans United sponsors to gain a better understanding of what challenges female stu-dent veterans face and to be-come friendly with veterans themselves.
Female veterans important to WVu community
THE DAILY ATHENAEUMTuesday November 11, 2014 veterans day | 5
by alexa mcclennencorrespondent
@dailyathenaeum
New Morgantown night-club Boomers is stepping into the downtown night-life scene by making a pos-itive impact and hosting a series of charity events throughout the year.
The Patriot Glow Party will help raise money for a veterans lounge and the future fundraising and op-erations of the West Vir-ginia University Veterans Club. Boomers’ target goal is $3,500.
“We want to do some-thing Morgantown clubs haven’t really done be-fore, and that’s raise con-tinuous money for char-ity. Everyone is going to be going out on Friday any-ways, (so) students might as well come to Boom-
ers for a good cause,” said Keith Kennedy, a Boom-ers Manager. “We want to give back to the veterans who have given so much to us.”
Cover is free for ladies until midnight, and there will be free cover all night for members of the mili-tary and their families with proof of service. Red,
white and blue shots will be $1, domestic bottles will be $2.50 and domes-tic drafts will be 50 cents. Donation buckets will also be passed around all night.
The event is spon-sored by The Bank at 344 High St., Erock U and Anheuser-Busch.
“It’s going to be a great night full of great people. We encourage all students to come,” Kennedy said.
Boomers is located on 228 Walnut Street and has only been open for seven short weeks. Man-agement’s goal is to take Morgantown nightlife and make it classier.
“We want to make Boomers a friendly envi-ronment. We want to work with the community and offer students a safe and interactive place to hang out and party without the negative connotations that come with bars in downtown Morgantown,” Kennedy said. “We are a bar run by students for students.”
Management has com-pletely remodeled the in-side to make the area more accommodating. Se-nior public relations stu-dent Ryan Upperman has been to Boomers recently and liked the changes he saw.
“I’ve been to Boomers a couple times and had a great time,” Upperman said. “It looks really differ-ent in there - they added an upstairs and added a bar, and there are couches along the walls now. There is a lot more space for people to walk around or dance. I definitely will go back there.”
The first event, the 2014 Patriot Glow Party, will be held Thursday, Nov. 13 from 10 p.m. until close.
new night club boomers hosts Patriot Glow Party
twitter.com/boomerswv
THE DAILY ATHENAEUM Tuesday November 11, 20146 | VETERANS DAY
by caroline petersstaff writer
@dailyathenaeum
West Virginia University has recently introduced a science, technology, en-gineering and math pro-gram for veterans seek-ing help with their studies. Also known as STEM, the tutoring program allows veterans to receive one-on-one tutoring sessions in the subjects they may be strug-gling in.
“The majority of veter-ans, service members and dependents who I have at WVU are pursuing a bach-elor of science degree. As a result, many have not had math or chemistry for a while,” said Jerry McCar-thy, the director of WVU Veterans Affairs. “They come into the University,
take the placement test, which places them into a math workshop. In or-der to get through their courses they need help be-cause they haven’t taken math classes in years op-posed to traditional college students.”
The University was able to create the tutoring pro-gram after receiving a $15,000 grant from AT&T. The grant was able to fund the supplies, tutors and computers needed for the program to be a success.
Rhea Sublett, a tutor serving the program said she has been able to help the veterans more than she had ever anticipated.
“At first I would just help students in my classes with different homework prob-lems,” Sublett said. “As time went on, I would help stu-
dents more and more, un-til I wasn’t just helping with homework – I was ac-tually explaining concepts and helping people under-stand the class as a whole. When I can help someone transition from having a lot of trouble in a class to ac-tually understanding the concepts and being able to work things out without my help, it is extremely gratify-ing. Most of the time, they just need someone to show them a new way to look at things.”
Each tutor is allowed five hours a week to help the veterans with their stud-ies. Sublett said the time she spends with each vet-eran varies.
“Each session is unique, depending on who I’m tu-toring and the subject. Sometimes I will go through
the book and pick out a few problems that I can help them work through,” Sub-lett said. “Other times they will bring in past assign-ments and I will help them understand what they got wrong and show them how to solve those problems in the future. Or they may just come in with a question on a certain topic and I will help them work through the topic until they feel comfortable with it.”
Although the STEM pro-gram has been in effect for less than a semester, Adam Chandler, a tutor for the program, has seen some of the veterans improve in their classes.
“With one of the vet-erans I am helping, I can clearly see their critical thinking become more oriented towards physics,”
Chandler said. “They have a much better grasp on laws such as conservation of energy and momentum and I can see how the con-nections between different ideas are connecting with one another.”
Aside from the veterans, Chandler believes the tu-tors have something to gain from the program.
“Tutoring gave me the opportunity to help oth-ers with their classes espe-cially in their times of most need,” Chandler said. “Be-ing able to help veterans is an added bonus as my fa-ther is a veteran himself and I can relate with them at least at that level.”
The tutors may not be able to make the veterans receive a 4.0 this semester. However, the tutors have set aside goals for the vet-
erans they have been work-ing with.
“My goal is always for them to not need me any-more. In the end, I don’t just want my students to feel comfortable solving problems,” Sublett said. “I want them to feel confident enough in their abilities to help other students.”
Chandler said he hopes to see all of the veterans succeed.
“Seeing them truly un-derstand the material and make the connections be-tween equation and real-ity gives me a sense of ac-complishment,” he said. “Overall, I’m happy just to see them learning and that I have the chance to help these wonderful people.”
wvutoday.wvu.edu
University introduces new steM program for vets
THE DAILY ATHENAEUMTuesday November 11, 2014 VETERANS DAY | 7
by jacob bojessonEditor-in-CHiEf
@dailyatHEnaEum
Congressman David McKinley – W.Va. (R) vis-ited West Virginia University Aug. 21 to meet with student veterans and get firsthand references on how veteran resources can be better uti-lized on college campuses.
McKinley serves as the representative for West Virginia’s first district, which includes the city of Morgantown.
Instead of researching and debating issues on Cap-itol Hill, McKinley said he wants to hear from the peo-ple affected by policy.
“I will listen much more to veterans who have been on the ground, than listen to a bunch of politicians in Washington,” McKinley said. “I want to deal with people who really understand.”
Many veterans pursu-ing a college education
struggle with the transition from deployment to enroll-ment, or as they described it themselves, “the lack of a transition.”
McKinley said he believes the time away from the habit of being in school and tak-ing classes is a major disad-vantage many veterans face.
“I think our veterans are in a different ball game,”
McKinley said. “They have been away from school and an educational environ-ment for four to five years.”
Dan Alexander, a WVU senior and former pres-ident of the WVU Veter-ans Club who served in the Navy, suggested that more resources should be spent on the issue.
“I would start the pro-cess a year before someone is due to get out of their ser-vice, where they meet with a counselor and let them know what their plans are,” Alexander said. “If it’s some-one that’s looking to get out
and start college then they push them towards re-sources that will help them before they get out. There is education at all the bases.”
Lauren Bowen, a sopho-more who served in the Ma-rine Corps, said she wants to major in geology, but hav-ing to start with lower level classes in math and English
will likely force her to stay at WVU past the four years covered by her GI Bill.
“We spend years away from schooling and we don’t have time to do it when we are stationed places,” Bowen said. “I’m starting from scratch, I’m starting from the lowest level of math pos-sible. I am going to use up
my GI Bill like that. What are we going to do after the four years once we’re out?”
Another concern WVU student veterans voiced is the limited resources avail-able to them on campus.
WVU currently has 1,109 student veterans enrolled, with just two faculty mem-bers serving them.
Alexander said he be-lieves WVU President Gor-don Gee and former Pres-ident Jim Clements have ignored the issue, while the state’s top politicians have tried to help them.
“Barbara Fleischauer, Senator (Joe) Manchin and yourself (McKinley) coming in, have always fought tooth and nail for us,” Alexander said. “I’ve never met a pres-ident of this University. I’ve tried to set up appointments but I’ve never met President Clements and I’ve never met President Gee.”
McKinley said he would try to reach out to Gee and investigate the possibility of opening a new resource center dedicated to student veterans.
“We’ll get back to him and talk to him,” McKinley said.
“This veteran resource center is a decision in space. Let me just try.”
by jennifer skinnerstaff writEr
@dailyatHEnaEum
Unlike typical bache-lor’s degrees, the Regents Bachelor of Arts degree allows students to receive college credit for experi-ences outside of the tradi-tional classroom. For stu-dent veterans, the West Virginia University RBA program serves as an inno-vative, flexible opportunity to count the skills attained in a veteran’s service to-ward a college degree.
RBA students choose an area of emphasis or a mi-nor along with their gen-eral requirements and college-equivalent cred-its from life experiences. These degrees aim to let adult students who may not be able to study on campus, may have family
obligations or may have unique demands or ob-stacles, earn a degree that leads into whatever next step students take, such as graduate school or work.
The interim director for the RBA program, Kristi Wood-Turner knows that this type of degree is es-sential to and popular with student veterans.
“It is really built with the intention of being a flexi-ble degree. It is designed so that we can allow for credit from life skills and knowl-edge that they learned,” Wood-Turner said. “We can take a lot more of their military credits like stan-dard awards than most degrees.”
Since students who are returning from war rely on their GI bills for a lim-ited time, they can gradu-ate relatively quickly and
go on to work on their own when needed.
“The average (length of the degree) is about two and a half years because they do get so many credits from their military expe-rience and what else they might learn outside of the classroom,” Wood-Turner said. “We also don’t have any specific courses they have to take outside of Gen-Eds, so they can get them out a lot quicker. The faster we can get them through from an un-dergrad to a masters, the faster we can move them into getting paid.”
Advisors serve as RBA students’ best friends be-cause they help the stu-dents determine what they will need for their next step, such as gradu-ate school.
“The advisor helps them
all the way through, from finding some place to park downtown to scheduling math tutoring, from the time (students) enter to the time they walk across the stage and graduate,” Wood-Turner said.
The RBA program offers graduate degrees with the College of Business and Economics and the Reed College of Media, while RBA graduates can also apply to medical school, law school or other gradu-ate programs.
As Wood-Turner ex-plained, choosing between pursuing a four-year de-gree and an RBA degree depends on the student’s preference.
“Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that they can come do a traditional degree on campus, or they need flexibility with the
RBA degree,” Wood-Turner said. “They’re both great foundational degrees to get to your next level; the difference is the way you get to your end rather than the things you’re learning.”
The number of student veterans pursuing RBA de-grees is increasing as the program markets more to-ward veterans across the state.
“What I hear from veter-ans advocates is that (the program) has given them the opportunity to bring in credits from experiences they’ve already done. It also gives them the oppor-tunity to be on campus if they want or take a semes-ter off if they want,” Wood-Turner said. “They’re al-ways humble. They would feel like somebody is tak-ing special care to what they’ve done and mak-
ing sure they’re getting all they can out of their experiences.”
Because student veter-ans typically have a vari-ety of learning experiences and needs, as well as a unique transition return-ing to school, the RBA pro-gram gives them the abil-ity to be a student however they need or want to be.
“I have never been more rewarded than see-ing these students af-ter all their years of hard work get to walk across that stage,” Wood-Turner said. “Veterans all have a lot of different personal needs. We’re looking to do more focus groups to see what else we can do in the future. The personal guidance has been really important.”
rba program offers degree flexibility for student veterans
Mckinley met with WVU student vets in august
jacob bojesson/Daily athenaeumMcKinley meets with student vets.
THE DAILY ATHENAEUM Tuesday November 11, 20148 | AD