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>> Good afternoon.
My name is Gerald Kapinos and I'm the Director of Operations
for Student Veterans of America.
First, I'd like to thank the fine folks at Points of Life
for letting me speak here today and also I'd
like to thank Trisha Thompson for putting this together.
I'd also like to extend some recognition to some
of the other folks who've helped our organization to grow
and thrive through the past few years;
there's Lieutenant Colonel Henderson
and the entire JCS staff, Mr. Todd Bowers from JPMorgan Chase,
representatives from the U.S. Chamber of Congress,
Colonel David Southerland, Mr. Rodrigo Garcia, representatives
from Give An Hour, The Mission Continues,
Pat Tillman Foundation, Bank of America,
and most importantly the foundation of our organization
and some of who are here today are the chapter leaders
and members of each one of our groups.
As an introduction to Student Veterans of America,
we are the first coalition of student veteran groups
on college campuses around the country.
Our vision is for all veterans to succeed in higher education,
achieve their academic goals, and gain meaningful employment.
Our mission is to provide military veterans
with resources, support and advocacy needed to succeed
in higher education and following graduation.
There are a few key issues many veterans face
when matriculating on the campus.
Some of these already have solutions in place
to help veterans transition back into civilian society
such as a GI Bill or on-campus resources such as career
and disability centers.
However, we found one critical ingredient did not exist
on many campuses; that was the presence
of a peer support network.
In the military, no matter how difficult the situation,
most of us usually had our brothers and sisters in arms
to rely on for that emotional and psychological support.
However, when we arrive on campus, we do so as individuals.
Now this problem is not exclusive to veterans,
but a veteran often has a significant age gap,
different maturity levels, different language and customs,
and vastly different life experiences
from the traditional college student right
out of high school preventing those relationships
from forming.
The SVA model is to develop
and sustain those local peer-to-peer support networks
on college campuses which hopefully fill that void.
These networks are a specific type of student origination
and when affiliated with us,
they are officially recognized as chapters.
This network can aid the veteran with their integration
with members often acting like an older brother or sister.
These groups can often share
with the recently separated veteran some of the tips
and tricks to be successful in school as well
as form a buddy system.
This system support can also be beneficial as a check
on their mental state.
A student veteran who is sinking into depression
or having issues may be noticeable to a group of peers
who can then recognize that person's change over time.
Likewise, they can be a conduit
for information not only recognizing the symptoms,
but also connecting their buddies
with the appropriate help when necessary.
Our model started with only a handful of chapters in 2008
and has grown to a network
of over 500 chapters across the nation.
In support, a 2010 Rand Corporation Study titled
"Service Members in School" found that 61 percent
of survey participants describe the support they receive
from fellow veterans as quite or extremely helpful in pursuit
of their education goals.
So we are trying to promote an innovative local solution
to help veterans succeed.
Another problem we have found is connected with employment
or post-graduation success.
Many studies have already shown
that a person's education level increases;
there is a proportional decrease in their unemployment rate.
Thus a person with a bachelor's degree...thus person's
with a bachelor degree have an unemployment rate approximately
half that of persons with only a high school education.
But in this economy, jobs are becoming
increasingly competitive.
One thing we've heard over and over is the importance
of an internship for companies when looking
to hire recent college graduates.
Many veterans though, do not or cannot participate
in summer internship programs
which could potentially improve their chances
for post-graduation success.
One of the reasons is first the question an individual may
as is; it's there really a need for an individual
to demonstrate their work ethic and abilities
after they've already been in the military?
Also many veterans have families and paid internships are few
and far between so they cannot afford to participate
in unpaid internships despite how beneficial it may be.
The GI Bill often does not cover any unpaid internships
and that's usually the veteran's sole source of income.
So we at SVA have created an innovative approach
to this issue.
One of our programs we launched last year is called the
Internship Support Program.
Our approach offers a monthly stipend
for student veterans during the summer months
who are participating in an unpaid internship.
The monthly stipend is not a lot, but our hope is
to defray some
of the participation's living costs while they improve their
employment prospects.
This allows them to not only get an inside look at a company,
organization, or industry, but also gives an opportunity
to start building that professional network
and hopefully give them a job tryout.
Once more or in addition, there are many efforts out there
to help veterans to either tweak or translate their resumes,
but I feel this is only half the battle
and does not go far enough.
In my personal opinion, I don't think any amount
of wordsmithing can effectively communicate on paper many
of the intangibles that veterans can bring to a company
such as dedication, problem solving,
or proven leadership to name a few.
So an additional benefit to this program is
to hopefully provide a first-hand experience
for employers to see that higher quality of employee
that a college educated veteran can bring to their team.
I realize that these solutions we've developed do not solve
every problem that is out there,
particularly ones considering veterans; they only address two.
But the larger point is that we all bear a responsibility
to help our service men and women transition back
into the civilian society
and in many cases this cannot be done expect
through innovative approaches.
I thank you and thank you for your time
and I hope you enjoy the rest...