Subscribe to the NewsNew Veteran’s Center Opening at Olympic College
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Olympic College is opening a Veteran and Military Support Center to assist veterans in transitioning to college. From the Kitsap Sun:
Eight months later, on Wednesday, the Veteran and Military Support Center will open. The facility is designed for men and women of the armed forces as they transition into college life. It provides a supportive place to study, hang out, and access college and veterans resources.
The public is invited to a ceremony to celebrate the unveiling and pay tribute to veterans and service members. The event, sponsored by the college’s Veteran Support Group, will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday on the Haselwood Library lawn. A barbecue whipped up by the college’s culinary arts program will follow. Lunch is free for veterans and military personnel with identification, and $5 for others.
As classes moved into new campus buildings, Room 100 in the old Engineering Building became available. Chacon put dibs on the 1,300-square-foot space. The college painted the walls and scrubbed the floor, partitioned off small offices, bought three computers, ran wire for them and pulled some desks and bookcases out of storage. Veterans donated couches, a fourth computer, a microwave and coffee pot.
The students’ top priority was a place where they could gather as a group, like a big living room, said Chacon, who came out of retirement to take the OC job. It will be that and more. Besides couches and a TV, there will be desks at which to study, a mini kitchen and private offices manned by a federally paid AmeriCorps staffer and volunteers. Academic counselors will be available, and social service representatives will visit periodically to help with things like medical, housing and jobs.
“We need to be able to connect the services in and outside of the college that relate to veterans and the military,” Chacon said.
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