Miami U. student veterans have a center of their own

New home in old post office gives vets place to work, study.

Veterans just out of OXFORD — military service, many having served in hostile situations, have a different kind of need adapting to college life than the average freshman just out of high school and that is a

— gap Miami University hopes to fill with its Student Veterans Center.

Leading the effort to establish that center was the Student Veterans Association, which has been working to meet some of those needs even before the center opened last March.

Emma Wott, president of the Student Veterans Asso- ciation this year, described the opening of the center, located in Wells Hall in space formerly housing the campus post office, as a “soft open- ing in March and another soft opening in August.”

The official opening was on Veterans Day as the new Veterans Tribute was dedicated just outside their window.

The center offers student veterans a place to go to study, do school work or just relax. There are computers and a printer available for their needs. Wott said they located some furniture for the room and have been on the lookout for upgrades as well as other items they might find useful.

Wh i le t hey now have refreshments and lockers, she hopes to add cable tele- vision to the room.

“We are always moving forward. There’s still more to do. We’re getting there. I’m excited to see what happens,” she said. “It’s a good place for quiet space. There’s a private room for counsel- ing sessions.”

Wott is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who is at Miami as a theater major. She said she prefers backstage roles to acting, but her role as presi- dent of the Student Veterans Association definitely puts her in front of people. On Veterans Day, she introduced a Miami dance group who per- formed at the city’s Uptown observance to the World War II-era song “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B” and a short time later, was one of the speakers at the dedication of Miami’s Veterans Tribute, where she spoke of military service and what it is like to go to school afterwards.

The adviser to the Student Veterans Association is Lin- coln Walburn, also a Marine veteran, who works as associate director of the Armstrong Student Center.

He said the Veterans Center is a partnership between the president’s office, physical facilities and the student success center. He noted the Hamilton and Middletown regional campuses already had such veterans centers and it made sense to start one on the main campus.

Walburn said Miami’s career center sends people to the veterans center to provide career counseling and help with résumés.

He said the center fills a need and the location is ideal because it is convenient to the Veterans Tribute and also the Campus Avenue Building where veterans’ services are located.

“The Hamilton and Middle- town spaces are really nice. We wanted to attract veterans, and what we needed to do was find the space,” Walburn said.

Wott said that need was met with a fortunate circumstance.

“The stars aligned. The post office moved. We were needing to make sure visibility was there so we did not have to go hunting through the weeds,” she said.

Now, they not only have a place but they have what Walburn called a “gigantic white sign” out front on Spring Street.

“Any veteran can see it and know we have a student center. Drive down Spring Street and you cannot help but see it,” he said. “Interior designers were willing to listen to veterans and cater to their needs. As veterans get more comfortable with the space, they will use it more.”

Wott said that efforts by the Student Veterans Association have been a big part of helping the veterans adjust to campus and civilian life. While much has been done over the past few years, more remains, but she is confident it will get done.

“It’s a lot of small steps, but steps in the right direction. We stay visible without getting lost in the shuffle,” Wott said. “We are finding people willing to support us.”