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[music] >>Text: VetSuccess on Campus, John Luque >>Speaking: My name's John Luque.
I did four years active duty in the U.S. Navy.
Prior to getting into the service,
I ran the streets of Oakland,
and I ran with a pretty rough crowd.
What prompted me to get into the service
was that I knew there was more than just my block in life,
and I wanted an opportunity to excel
and be who I possibly could be.
As time went on, I started becoming more of an achiever;
I started taking more pride in what I was doing.
I became career counselor on the ship.
I became Warrior of the Month out of 5,000 men.
I had a lot of great experiences in the service,
but I was influenced by my friends and family to come home,
and as I look back at it now, I regret it very much.
When I got out of the service, I just ran amok.
But, during that time, I had a few friends doing real estate,
they were telling me, "John, you can do this,"
and I did very well.
I mean, in 2007,
I had almost $15 million in escrow,
I had development projects,
but the market crashed and then overnight
all my projects were dead in the water.
Little by little, I lost my primary residence
and then I was homeless.
Eventually, I got to Utah
and I went straight to the Workforce Services.
I worked with a Veterans Rep and he was telling me,
"Why don't you go to school, John,
I mean why don't you take the test?"
I said, "I'm not a student, I never really did school,
I barely did school when I went."
But, when I did take the placement test,
I did score higher than I thought,
and I came here to Salt Lake Community College,
and the first place I went to was the Vet Center.
>> VetSuccess on Campus is a program
under the Department of Veterans Affairs,
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program, >>Text: Michael Foster, VetSuccess on Campus Counselor, Salt Lake Community College
and the goal is to work with Veterans on campus
to help them become successful,
provide academic services, benefits assistance,
all the services the Veterans might need
to be successful in school.
And the idea is to get them
into school, through school,
and out of school and into the labor market
as quickly and with as much success as possible.
So, with John, the first thing we did was sit down
and really help him identify vocationally
what he wanted to do.
(Luque) I'm here to get my degree in business
and I want to start my own non-profit
for homeless Veterans, emergency housing facility.
I want to give back, I want to be
a community organizer, and I want to make a difference.
So, we mapped out short-term and long-term goals.
One of the goals was to apply for any and all
Veterans benefits that were available to me,
and I also told them I was a homeless Veteran.
(Foster) So, we hooked him up
with the homeless Veterans coordinator
here in Salt Lake City to get his housing stabilized.
It's hard to be a successful student
if you're living in a car.
We worked with him to get him medical assistance,
so he's using the VA Medical Center now.
His GI Bill had expired,
so we helped him apply for the VRAP Program--
the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program,
which gave him extra funding for school
that helped stabilize his financial status.
So, while VetSuccess on Campus
focuses on success on campus, obviously,
Veterans have lives, they have medical problems,
they might have psychological issues,
they may have housing instability
or financial instability.
So, we want to make sure that we're addressing
all those issues to make them successful in school.
It's great to see Veterans be successful,
especially Veterans like John, who didn't feel
like he necessarily fit in on campus
and didn't feel like college was the route for him.
Where he started at with a handful of credits, homeless,
and didn't really know where to go,
to now being almost done
with his associates degree in business management,
it's been a huge transition for him.
Even when he was a homeless Veteran,
he would still bring Veterans into our office,
so he's going to be good in an outreach or sales position,
and I really see him being successful because he's
the kind of Veteran who is going to persevere
regardless of his circumstances.
(Luque) I am stubborn,
I am street, call it what you want,
but you gotta ask for help some day.
Since I started asking for help,
I have people I can go to and here I am today.
Because of VetSuccess on Campus
and the people behind it, I've been a homeless Veteran
now living on my own,
I've been a homeless Veteran without education
now being educated,
and I look to be a productive member of society.
They've been a huge part of where I'm aiming to go today
and where I'm aiming to go in the future,
and I am very grateful for them. >>Text: Department of Veterans Affairs, For more information: www.VetSuccess.gov 1-800-827-1000