Stephanie Snyder
Staff Writer
North Central College proudly supports our country and the military that makes it possible for us to live the way we do. Because of this, NCC has gone to great lengths to promote the school to veterans and students in the military. The Veteran Services Office, headed by Julie Carballo, has put forth the efforts to make this possible. With the help of Carballo and the rest of the Veteran Services Office, NCC has been named a Military-Friendly School by G.I. Jobs magazine for the third consecutive year.
This is an honorable accomplishment made by North Central but this topic rarely gets addressed across campus. It tends to show up on the news page for the college’s website, but this seems more like a topic that should be spreading like wildfire among the chatter on campus. The program at North Central, which has been developing since the 1940s, has done a lot to create a positive and welcoming atmosphere for military students over the years.
The Veteran Services Office has gone to great lengths to promote the college’s accomplishment and have also formally recognized the courageous students prior to the kickoff of the Saturday, Oct. 4 football game against Millikin University at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. Not only have they given military students recognition, but they have also set up a lounge space on the first floor of Old Main where they can have a comfortable and peaceful place to study and converse.
“Seventy years ago – on June 22, 1944, President Roosevelt signed the original GI Bill into law,” said Carballo. “Millions of WWII veterans used the bill to earn post-secondary degrees and some of those veterans chose NCC.”
The Veteran Services Program is starting to play an even bigger role at the college in order to help veteran students acclimate and feel welcome.
“At North Central we continually strive to create a culture of trust and connectedness across the campus community,” said Carballo. “We are planning events to develop connectedness among the student veteran group and to bring awareness of our Student Veteran Services.”
Not only have they set aside space in Old Main for those students, but they also offer faculty and staff professional development workshops on the issues and challenges unique to student veterans. The effort the college has put forth for these students has had a positive impact on them.
For army-veteran Justin Stuursma, the Veteran Services Program has helped him significantly with getting set up for his college career and has made the process extremely simple as well.
“When I came here for my advising appointment,” Stuursma said, “they already had a veteran guy there to sit down with me. They made the process really easy with the paperwork. There wasn’t any searching or anything; they answered all my questions right away. I didn’t have to ask them twice.”
Not only did the Veteran Services Program provide the necessary service for Stuursma, but also one of the key things that brought him here was the Yellow Ribbon Program. This allowed for funding in order for him to attend North Central College. The Yellow Ribbon Program is for schools that want to allow for additional funds to be available to their military students.
Stuursma was also able to acclimate to NCC life when he joined the football team. “I was sitting down with one of the veteran assistants and he asked me if I was interested in sports. I figured I might as well and I said ‘I guess football.’ We went to talk to the coaches and some of my buddies play here, so they went and called my buddies to ask them about me. Then I got a one-on-one with the coaches.”
With the assistance from the school and the community that the college has built up, Stuursma has been able to fit right into the mix of NCC life. The Veteran Services Program has created a positive environment and continues to help students like Stuursma feel welcome.
“The benefits are that there is a community of people that understand what you’re going through or what you have gone through so that’s always nice,” said Stuursma, “There’s always someone there to look out for you.”
The Veteran Services Program is not the only military-friendly aspect of North Central. There are students who are currently enrolled in the ROTC program. Although, the college does not have their own program, they accommodate interested students by allowing for a cross enrollment with Wheaton College. One of the many students enrolled is sophomore and army-ROTC student, Mitch Reid.
The ROTC, which stands for Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, helps students like Reid receive training to become an officer in the army without compromising their school work. “Once I graduate, I will be commissioned as a second lieutenant, which is an actual army officer,” Reid said. “Right now I’m just going through school and going through training, learning more about how to be a leader. I’m contracted for four years after I graduate- most people are.”
North Central supports their veterans along with their ROTC students, which has been a benefit for students like Reid.
“Scholarship wise, it’s all through Wheaton but North Central is really helpful with supporting me,” said Reid. “They give credits for the courses I take for ROTC, so they transfer over. I’ve also had to miss a couple classes because of training. All of my professors are super supportive and they aren’t upset that I’m going to be missing class for it.”
The biggest reason Reid chose to do ROTC was because he wanted to get his education, but also serve his country while doing it. Attending North Central College and cross enrolling at Wheaton College in their ROTC program was the best way he saw to do that.
As the Veteran Services Program and the support for other military students progresses, North Central looks to be on the road to exemplifying an encouraging environment for future military students.
