Iowa Wesleyan opens Military and Veterans Resource Center

MT. PLEASANT - Members of the military and veterans attending Iowa Wesleyan University will now have a centralized Military and Veterans Resource Center to get information about scholarships and benefits.

The university held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the center, located on the second floor of the J. Raymond Chadwick Library, on Nov. 11.

Barb Schultz, the assistant dean of graduate and professional studies, alongside Iowa Wesleyan's certifying official Megan Hills, worked to secure the space for the new center and collect resources for students to access.

Schultz said the university believes it is important to have the resource center to 'honor and respect our military students and to provide a center where they would have easy access to resources.” The center will act as a 'one-stop shop” for those students where previously, students would have had to go from office to office for services.

'Now there's just one place to go and it's also meant to be an area where they can just relax if they choose to,” Schultz further explained. The room is stocked with a microwave and a refrigerator for veteran and military students.

'Many of the veterans are commuting students … and they don't really have a place to put their lunch,” Schultz continued.

The assistant dean also noted that the university serves about 25 students who are part of the military or are veterans and that the concept for the new resource center had been in development for a year. When the space on the second floor of the library opened up, Schultz and Hills were able to make the concept a reality.

In addition to resources and information on benefits, the center will act as a safe space for students. As the certifying official for the university, Hill meets with every veteran and active duty student 'to provide them benefits to see what kind of funds they can get toward their education.”

'It's good to have one space for all military and veterans to talk and sometimes they have personal stories and I think just having a safe space to talk about those is very important,” Hills said.

'I'm just hoping they feel more welcome to the university and that they have a safe place to not only get what they need educationally but to open up to each other as well,” Hills concluded.

University Provost. DeWayne Frazier, also reiterated the importance of creating a space for military and veteran students to be able to speak and share experiences.

'Many times military individuals like to be together and be able to talk about shared experiences in a more safe environment versus an all-commuter lounge where they're sitting down and talking. Because what many of them have gone through from serving, either in war or serving in general, they have different stories, they have different things that connect them,” he remarked.

Frazier also noted that having the center is 'important … because many small schools do not have people that specialize and learn how to help with military benefits, especially [in] scholarships.”

'We have been sending our team to trainings and other programs so that they can be able to be very helpful. It's so complicated sometimes trying to understand the benefits that you get,” he said.

The ribbon cutting was preceded by a small ceremony in honor of Veterans Day, where Sergeant Major Ed Pforts, who grew up in Henry County, addressed a small crowd of students and community members.

'We honor these veterans as individuals today. However, I can tell you the military service is not about the individual. It is about the team,” Pforts said in his address.

During his speech, the sergeant major also reminded the audience to thank not only veterans and military members but also their families for their sacrifices.

'I would be remiss if I did not mention the other veterans who are generally overlooked because they don't wear the uniform. And they are the spouses and children of service members,” Pfort noted.

'It is by far the hardest job in the world, and they have all done it with honor, dignity and courage,” he concluded, again reminding students and community members to take the time to thank a veteran.