UNC Asheville will celebrate the opening of the university’s new Veteran Center for Excellence with a graduation celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony for student veterans at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10 in Highsmith Union. The Veteran Center for Excellence is funded by a $10,000 Vet Center Initiative grant from the Student Veterans of America (SVA) and the Home Depot Foundation.
The Veteran Center for Excellence will serve as a place for UNC Asheville’s student veterans to study and relax, and as the meeting place for members of the Veterans Alliance student organization. The space will also house a library and repository for resources for student veterans, facilitate collaborations between the Veterans Alliance and other student organizations, and be a designated space for Green Zone trainings, which helps participants develop an understanding for the challenges faced by student veterans.
“Being able to have a quiet space that is still part of the student union action, designed specifically for veterans, is important,” said UNC Asheville alumna Tammy Walsh, who served as the student supervisor for veterans’ programs at UNC Asheville and wrote the Vet Center Initiative grant application. “I hope the center is a jumping-off point for bigger and better things for our student veterans on campus.”
SVA and The Home Depot Foundation launched the Vet Center Initiative in 2014 as part of SVA’s mission to provide veterans with the resources, support, and advocacy needed to succeed in higher education and following graduation.