The Office of Military and Veterans Service will begin undergoing construction Sept. 25 to remodel its current facilities on the Marietta campus.
Kennesaw State has one of the largest student-veteran populations in the state, and Chris Brayton, a transition coordinator for Military and Veterans Services, hopes the new office will improve his department’s efficiency.
According to Brayton, the construction should take around one week to complete. The current office will be divided to create a waiting area, a computer lab, and two smaller offices for career, scholarship and Veterans Affairs counseling.
The walls of Brayton’s office are composed of only his desk and a few cabinets, meaning that students who need to talk about personal matters such as grades and financial aid opportunities — among other things — cannot have the privacy that a closed-door room would have.
“We work with the VA and DAV,” said Brayton, referring to Veterans Affairs and Disabled American Veterans. “It’s hard to talk with these veterans about their scholarships and grades without a closed office.”
The DAV is an organization that works with men and women who have been wounded while serving. Students can receive counseling from members of the DAV in the Military and Veterans Services office.
The coordinators at Military and Veterans Services also act as counselors to the student-veteran population. Every member of the office has served in the United States military in order to give students exposure to service members who have been through college and understand the more complex nature of starting and finishing college while serving.
In addition to counseling on how to best utilize the GI Bill, the department itself offers scholarship services to students who may need additional assistance or more time to complete their degree. The scholarship is often awarded to students who are at the end of their GI Bill benefits but are still completing hours toward a degree.
The office also helps connect veterans together. It partners with many organizations, such as the Hero Run 5K that occurred in August, and have activities for student-veterans to participate in.
“Veterans’ Outdoor Adventures allows them to do activities together outside of the academic world,” Brayton said.
Those interested in volunteering with the Office of Military and Veteran Services can contact veterans_resource@kennesaw.edu.
