For June's Careers and Coffee chat, Monika Sziron led the charge with a discussion about programming for the summer and the upcoming fall semester. With each attendant representing a different size institution and constituency of veterans, the conversation was lively and highly informative.

Below is a brief recap of what was discussed and a link for July's Careers and Coffee event.

Summer Programming:
For many in attendance, summer seems to be an especially challenging time to stay engaged with student veterans. Many student veterans leave campus to spend more time with family or begin a summer job/internship.

Jill Wolfe from Grand Valley State University explained that most of the classes for the summer are online, removing even more students from campus and making any type of programming difficult to do. Jaye Ferrone, from the University of Arizona, explained an additional challenge I had not thought about: weather. For Jaye and the others at the University of Arizona, the weather is one of the critical limitations to summer programming. Stockton University's Michael Barany explained the ways COVID-19 has ended their once-robust summer programming. Before the pandemic, Michael would hold events like outdoor movie nights, hosting a BBQ, and other family-friendly events. They would also have more adult-oriented events as well.

In addition to summer programming, many spend the summer engaging with students and completing different training opportunities to stay engaged. Dani Molina representing UC Irvine, held similar sentiments about the lack of summer events. However, Dani is instead focused on helping students request their veteran benefits, such as the GI Bill®, which many, if not all, student veterans use. Maria Kalnbach from the University of Oregon uses the time for de-escalation and suicide prevention training.

Whether through events or essential training, summer remains an important time for programming and future planning.

Fall Programming:
For the fall, the primary focus for many in attendance is returning to the successful programming before the pandemic changed everything. For Jill, there is often a good amount of job recruitment events, especially from local police departments. Michael has had similar events on his campus; however, the turnout is often disappointing.

Outside of job recruitment, there is an effort on many of the campuses to have different events that encourage members from outside of the veteran community to attend. Jaye has had a "difficult conversations" program where veterans can have honest conversations about current events or other topics that directly affect them and their community (ex., The drawdown in Afghanistan, sexual assault in the military, etc.). Many faculty and staff have attended these events in the past, and Jaye plans on continuing this event in the future.

This event was an incredible exchange of ideas and thoughts; hopefully, the shared ideas will bring fresh new ideas to campuses and student veterans around the country.

If you are interested in listening in, adding to the conversation, or meeting new folks in the military-connected space? Please join us in July for the next Careers and Coffee sessions. Registration is available here.

Article Topics

Military Focused Events Military Friendly Institutions Serving Military in HigherEd Working as a Veteran in HigherEd

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