A raffle, a prize wheel and people filled the Veterans’ Day Celebration held at the Veterans Resource Center Courtyard on Nov. 12 to show appreciation for military veterans and strengthen the Pierce College community.
Vice President of Student Services Jason Cifra believes events like these are necessary to celebrate, give thanks to veterans and commemorate the history of military work.
“The biggest takeaway is that our veteran students are here,” Cifra said. “We need to create a community for the veterans so that they feel welcome too and that there are resources for veterans. We support our veterans. We have services, and we have resources as well.”
Cifra believes the financial resource is the primary resource the college offers to veteran students. Accessing veteran benefits is the main priority, and having people available to talk and be reached out to is also important.
“To me, the big one is that veteran students have their financial resources squared away,” Cifra said.
Cifra accepts that Pierce has a ways to go in efforts to assist veterans, but he believes building community is the focus. However, Cifra notes that the school having a Veterans Resource Center is a major step in the right direction.
“There are people here today at the fair celebrating and supporting our veterans, but we need more engagement to let our veterans in the community know that there is a space here for them,” Cifra said.
The Coordinator of the Welcome Center and Veterans Resource Center Coordinator Curtis Smith believes events like this to bring veterans together is a great way to build a welcoming, and inclusive environment.
“Anything you can do to bring veterans together,” Smith said. “We wanted to do a little celebration on Veterans’ Day, but the school was closed. We do have a big resource fair coming up as well for the veterans.”
Smith believes fairs like this to bring veterans together is a good act for the college now and moving forward to recognize the people who served the country.
“They’ve done a lot for us and for our country, so I’m all in favor of everything that we can do for them,” Smith said.
Pierce College student and army veteran Oscar Rodriguez stated that just meeting one veteran on the campus is enough to keep him happy. Meeting other veterans with different jobs and different majors is an enjoyable experience for him.
Rodriguez credits Smith as a major part in making his experience as great as it has been.
“Curtis Smith has been very instrumental and helps us vets out, so it’s been good,” Rodriguez said.
With his enjoyment of meeting other veterans, Rodriguez also credits supporting other veterans and Smith as a driving force for attending the fair.
“This is all unpaid work,” Rodriguez said. “So I love at least coming out here and seeing what I could help with and maybe if I could just give an interview or answer someone’s questions.”