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Bryan Adams entered Rutgers-Camden in fall 2007 with a Purple Heart. A sniper ambush during Operation Iraqi Freedom left Adams with gunshot scars on his hand and leg.
Due to the advocacy of Veterans For Education and a prospective increase in coming years of veteran students, the University has taken up initiatives to accommodate and support veterans.
Adams, a Camden School of Arts and Sciences first-year student, is one of 396 University students receiving veterans’ benefits.
Another is School of Arts and Sciences junior Jose Rodriguez, who served with a marine expeditionary unit carrying out humanitarian missions in the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and other Asian countries from 2001 to 2005. Rodriguez continued doing reserve work until January 2008.
“Once you join the military you experience and see other things that you wouldn’t normally see if you weren’t part of it, and that can possibly change your view on issues,” Rodrigurez said.
Adams had difficulty adjusting to life as a civilian and relating to other students at the start of his first year of college.
“I didn’t want to talk to anybody,” Adams said. “I was on campus walking around and people would be crying about their Starbucks or whatever, complaining about nothing. I was just like, ‘Man you have no idea.’ Compared to Iraq, college is nothing.”
In spring 2008, Adams joined Veterans For Education, a non-partisan organization at Rutgers-Camden dedicated to promoting a positive image of veterans and the value of education. He is now president of the organization.
During the question and answer period of President Richard L. McCormick’s September 2008 annual address, Adams stated he would like to see increased support and advocacy for veterans. The University Committee on Veterans’ Services met for the first time six days later.
Vice President for Student Affairs Gregory S. Blimling, chairperson for the council, said the University is obliged to address the needs of men and women who serve their country.
“We are mobilizing the resources that we have, we are pulling together the people that we believe can be of assistance and we are trying to provide the best programs and services that we possibly can to the men and women who have so honorably served in our armed forces,” Blimling said.
The Report of the Committee of Veterans’ Services states the University is likely to see an increase in the number of students who have served in active duty because the post Sept. 11 G.I. Bill provides educational benefits to a large number of men and women who were called to active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Senator Jim Webb, D-Virginia, introduced the Post Sept. 11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007 in Jan. 2007. The legislation became law in June 2008 and goes into effect Aug. 1, 2009.
Undergraduate registrar Robert Whitman said he thinks the new G.I. Bill and the return of 2,900 members of the New Jersey National Guard from service in Iraq will lead to an increase in veterans on campus in coming years.
Assistant Dean Betza Feliciano-Berrios said an increase in 2010 is more likely than one in 2009 because of the structure of admission cycles. With this expected surge on the horizon, Veterans For Education continued fighting for measures for veterans.
Faculty of Rutgers-Camden voted April 2 to apply for the Servicemembers Opportunity College Consortium, a move that Veterans For Education had campaigned for.
The consortium allows veterans who took technical courses during advanced military training to submit their credits to the University for consideration toward their undergraduate degree, Adams said.
Blimling said Rutgers-New Brunswick joining the consortium is not on the agenda and Camden would be the portal program for the University.
“Any veteran who wants to transfer credits from [Servicemembers Opportunity College Consortium] schools can matriculate at University College-Camden as long as they are accepted for admission and then they can take courses at any of our campuses. They could in fact take courses here in New Brunswick or in Newark as what is called a visiting student and the degree would be offered by University College-Camden,” Blimling said.
The University is also considering joining the Yellow Ribbon Program offered through the Veterans Administration, Blimling said. The program would minimize out-of-state tuition costs for veterans.
Under the program, half of a veteran’s out-of-state deferential would be paid by the federal government and the other half would be waived or essentially paid for by the University, he said.
The University will be actively recruiting veterans by setting up academic programs on military bases in New Jersey, and will continue to devise new ways to aid and accommodate veterans, Blimling said.
One new way the University aims to aid veterans is through the volunteer veteran mentoring program, Feliciano-Berrios said. The program is a combination of Peer-to-Peer and Student-to-Practicing Professional programs designed to benefit veterans.
“Veteran students will not only be assigned a mentor, but will have a mentor who is well aware of military life, the Rutgers life and is willing to reach out to the student instead of the other way around,” Feliciano-Berrios said. “We see this program as a way to welcome our veterans and provide them additional support outside of the already existing administrative and academic support.”
Carl Burns, a University alumnus and Vietnam veteran, will be volunteering as a mentor.
“We’re going to be there to provide advice and direction to veteran students,” Burns said. “We will provide a network to help each and every one of them reach their goals of being a successful student and graduating.”
Adams reflected on the changes Veterans For Education has spurred and the shift he has seen in the University’s attitude.
“I think they realize the value of veterans and what they can bring to campus,” Adams said. “They’re starting to understand that we can make this campus better … I’m really enjoying Rutgers. I’m proud to be a student.”
For 6 year-old Samier Ballance, it was the first time he set eyes on the beach and splashed in the ocean. 100 kids from Camden’s Molina Annex Recreation Center recently took a trip to Ocean City, NJ thanks to Angels on the Atlantic. The organization has been providing beach trips to inner-city children for 3 summers, and projects approximately 3,000 kids will visit the beach with the program this season.
Beach tags, toys, t-shirts, towels and lunches are provided, as well as activities. Angels on the Atlantic offers the following specialized educational programs:
Check out this NBC10.com video report to see the kids enjoying the surf and sand.
