The Veterans Resource Center will host 9/11 Day of Remembrance at the Armed Forces Service Plaza on Sept. 11, from 9 to 10 a.m. During the event, the VRC will examine the impact of 9/11 in professional fields throughout the last 22 years.
Nicholas Swansburg, Army veteran, as well as coordinator and graduate assistant of the VRC, said the event was also held in 2021 for the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
“It was pretty massive. It was live streamed. There were a lot of community partnerships on that one. We had first responders from New York that came and talked about their reaction to being there the day of,” Swansburg said.
President Hanbury shakes hands with cadets at the ROTC and HPSP’s first annual Joint Commissioning Ceremony. PHOTO COURTESY OF VETERANS RESOURCE CENTER.
The idea for the VRC came from Kimberly Durham, dean of the College of Education and School of Criminal Justice, and Brad Williams, senior vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs.
They recognized NSU’s growing veteran population and gathered funds to create a space for them in 2016.
When the VRC opened in 2018, Matthew Chenworth, Marine veteran and senior director of Military Affairs, was the center’s first director. The VRC used to be in the Rosenthal Student Center and has since moved to room 1045 in the Carl DeSantis building
“We’ve gone from just having a space on campus that was able to host our veteran students to opening it up and drawing a larger circle, a bigger umbrella, to make sure that we’re serving our veterans, military-connected students, ROTC, but also connecting with the community and our on campus partners as well,” Chenworth said.
The VRC’s hours are 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, the hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sandra Wendland, Army veteran and director of Military Affairs, encourages students to stop by, whether it’s to learn more about veterans or to use the space to relax during classes.
“We work a lot with helping military-connected and veteran students kind of transition into college life to make sure that they’re aware of their veterans benefits, education benefits, helping them to find out about different workshops and programming that we have here,” Wendland said. “Just kind of giving them a home away from home so that they’re able to feel comfortable and to be able to connect with other, other like-minded students.”
For Esmee Ramos, Air Force veteran and senior coordinator of the VRC, the best thing about it is building a community with fellow veterans.
“My favorite part is just interacting with the students that come here. As a veteran myself, we’ve all come from different walks of life, so it’s like new experiences, new people, relating with fellow veterans,” Ramos said. “It just provides such a comfortable space that I can be myself around.”
The VRC also helps students with financial aid resources, including the Health Professions Scholarship Program, Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarships and the Terry and Nancy Malarkey scholarship.
Chenworth highlighted the Yellow Ribbon Program, where NSU provides $8,500, and the Department of Veterans Affairs will match it for a total of an additional $17,000.
“I do a lot of benchmarking of other university programs and I have not found one university that provides more additional money toward our students than what NSU does,” Chenworth said.
Additional upcoming VRC events include Veterans Family Fun Day and the Inaugural Golf Classic, which happen during Veterans Week in November. Students can also attend several workshops the VRC hosts, regardless of their military status.
“We provide [Green Zone Training] with student organizations here and also our staff members around the university to be able to connect military staff members and personnel here and students with civilians, just so that everyone can kind of learn about each other and get to know each other,” Wendland said.
If students are not connected with the military, they are still encouraged to visit the center and apply for a position on JobX.
“We are very welcoming and inclusive of everyone. We want to make sure that we are a nice landing pad where anyone will feel comfortable to come and utilize our computers, utilize our printers,” Wendland said. “Come visit anytime.”
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