Pictured above: Coast Guard Veteran Zachary Morales is a senior Health Sciences major.
Avery Jennings | The Crow’s Nest
By Avery Jennings
The Military and Veteran Success Center at USF St. Petersburg helps veteran students transition into college life and find their purpose after the military.
The program is a part of the USF Office of Veteran Success. It provides a community for students and helps them navigate government benefits, degree assistance, internships, research opportunities and work-study programs.
“We foster a community of care in the center that is guided by empathy and authenticity. Any student having a challenge, we take that challenge on as if it were our own so that we can help resolve the situation,” U.S. Army Retired Chief Warrant Officer and Assistant Director Wayne Taylor explained.
Students can visit the center to receive assistance in using their GI Bill benefits and applying for Veterans Affairs Work-Study programs.
According to the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the GI Bill is an educational assistance program for active-duty service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserves members and qualified survivors and dependents of veterans.
The bill assists those who qualify with tuition payments, housing and textbooks. Students must be enrolled in at least a three-quarter class load to qualify for these benefits.
The center also provides assistance in choosing a school, career choice, financial services via scholarships, housing assistance for those experiencing housing insecurity and other additional support through community partners.
The success center offers work study opportunities and helps veterans and their dependents find internship and research opportunities in their field of study.
The center also offers extracurricular activities such as sports events and volunteer activities, as well as health services in partnership with the VA and outside providers.
“Our center is a one-stop-shop providing full wrap-around services,” Taylor said.
Health Sciences Senior and Coast Guard veteran Zachary Morales used the center’s resources to find an internship with the National Institutes of Health. His position as a work-study student at the center helped him find this internship.
Transitioning from the military to college was not easy for Morales. He originally planned to stay in the Coast Guard for 20 to 30 years but after some self reflection, he got out with the intention of pursing physical therapy.
He claimed that it was something he didn’t realize he wanted to do until he was 20 or 21. He thought it was at least worth giving it a try with all the benefits the VA provided to him.
“It was very hard, but I quickly acclimated to the lifestyle, because in the military we’re taught to adapt very quick. So, it was difficult, but it was very rewarding to know that I could do that,” Morales said.
Taylor is a driving force in the center, helping students through his own experience.
After retiring with 28 years of service in the Army, working several years in corporate America, and attending USF, he found that he needed a new purpose.
He found this purpose by working with the Veterans Treatment Court. According to Taylor, it is a special court for veterans who deal with addiction, mental health issues or military sexual trauma.
“In the military, we had this great sense of purpose. We always do something for the greater good or a mission, whatever it is, but it’s something larger than ourselves. So, it was purpose,” Taylor said. “My purpose is to help influence change and help others find where their purpose is in life, whether it be a student Veteran, whether it be a military connected student, a spouse, or a young adult who’s coming school, or anyone else who walks through the door.”
The Military and Veterans Success Center is located at TER 301/302 on the USF St. Petersburg campus, and it is available to USF student veterans, as well as the families and dependents of veterans.
Avery Jennings is a junior mass communications major at USF St. Petersburg.
