There are over 400 educational entities in the state of Arizona. Of those, only 35 are Veteran Supportive Campuses. On October 22nd, SDI joined those ranks.
With our high military and veteran population, it goes without saying this recognition is especially meaningful. According to the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services, the purpose of becoming a certified Veteran Supportive Campus (VSC) is to better understand the needs of military students and become continually responsive to those needs. The impact and importance of being a VSC can best be said by Rob Howard, the Director of Military and Veteran Services here at SDI.
“It is a stamp of approval that shows that our organization is committed to taking care of our student-veterans. As an organization, we know how much work we put into ensuring our student-veterans are successful, it is nice to receive a prestigious recognition from the highest level in our State.”
You may be asking yourself, “What does SDI do to support veterans?” Rob’s got us covered on that too.
“There are many things we do to support veterans: we have an office that our student-veterans can visit if they are in the Tempe area SGT Michael J. Beckerman Military and Veteran Services Office; Student Veteran Steering Committee that serves as advocates for our student-veteran population; we have the Military and Veteran Services department whose mission is to support our student-veterans. Lastly, we have some awesome leaders in our organization that hire individuals that are technically proficient in their jobs and truly care about taking care of veterans. At the end of the day, our job at SDI is to help others succeed and take care of people, we have a proven track record that says we are darn good at our job.”
Howard’s sentiments were echoed by SDI President Traci Lee.
“Having served the Veteran community for many years, it was important to SDI to ensure we became a Veteran Supportive Campus through the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services (ADVS). We are committed to ongoing training to ensure understanding and ability to respond to the needs of our military students. We are proud of this recognition and look forward to SDI’s ongoing involvement in the Veteran community!”
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