EDWARDSVILLE 鈥� The transition from military service into higher education can be isolating for veterans.
It鈥檚 an experience Telisha Reinhardt knows well. She served in the Navy for four years before going to undergraduate and then graduate school.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard for me to put into words how that isolation feels, especially when you鈥檙e around people who are speaking the same language as you,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t feels like you鈥檙e an alien, and you鈥檝e just been zapped into this classroom.鈥�
Reinhardt is now focused on eliminating those feelings for veteran students at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where she coordinates military and veteran services at a new Military and Veteran Resource Center, which opened in January. She said she鈥檚 working to establish support groups for women veterans, veterans of color and other marginalized groups.
鈥淲hen I was going through my path in life trying to find my way after getting out of the military, I could not find these support systems anywhere,鈥� she said.
Reinhardt explained that life in the military is highly structured. When you wake up, what you wear, who you live with, who you work with and many other aspects are pre-planned and stay consistent from day to day, she said.
鈥淲hen you leave that structure and go to the university where you鈥檙e pretty much at your free will, it鈥檚 like, 鈥榃hat do you do with this?鈥欌�� Reinhardt said.
There鈥檚 often a disconnect between the life experience veteran students have and more traditional undergraduate students who are many years younger, said Kevin Wathen, director of military and veteran services at SIUE.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 just come in and sign up for classes, you actually have to think about your educational goals and how that fits with your service time and the benefits that you receive from the VA or from Illinois,鈥� he said.
The new center serves the dual purpose of connecting veteran and military family students to resources and counseling and providing a space for veterans to connect with other people on campus with similar life experiences, said Wathen, who served in the Army National Guard. He added it鈥檚 centrally located on the campus and has already seen good traffic, even during the pandemic, since it opened last month.
For Reinhardt, the center helps to increase the visibility of what she offers and of the challenges veteran and military students at SIUE face.
鈥淏efore the center we had services, but it wasn鈥檛 an official space for them to come and just be,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he center puts a face to the people.鈥�
Reinhardt and Wathen鈥檚 efforts aren鈥檛 lost on veteran and military-connected students either.
Bradley Hebert, who鈥檚 studying computer management and information systems, said he chose SIUE because of the support he felt from the university after seven years in the Air Force. He said Wathen explained how to access some of the benefits he鈥檚 entitled to as a veteran.
鈥淎 lot of the VA benefits and the GI Bill benefits are based off how proactive you are with your paperwork,鈥� Hebert said. 鈥淚 became aware of road bumps before they even had the chance of happening.鈥�
He added the resource center also gave him a social space to get feedback on ideas or compare college experiences.
鈥淚 knew that I could go there, ask the question, and I'd get a straight answer,鈥� Hebert said. 鈥淏ecause other people would have experienced it before me. It was nice to know that those social structures were there.鈥�
Even during the coronavirus pandemic where there aren鈥檛 many students on campus, Wathen said the center has veteran and military-connected people in it every day.
鈥淚 can only imagine what it鈥檚 going to be like once we get back to full capacity here on campus,鈥� he said.
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