2008 Woodie Awards
Veterans navigate post-combat life at college
Cynthia Hubert
Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: News
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They bring the familiar baggage of student life: Worries about whether they are majoring in the right subjects. Concerns about juggling work and classes. Questions about how they might improve their English grades.
They also bring Iraq.
Most of the young men and women who visit Morris have done time in combat. Their scars run deep, but are not always visible.
Looking into their eyes from behind her neatly organized desk in the school's campus center, Morris sees more than most. A former Marine who keeps a photograph of her younger self in uniform on a shelf, she runs a year-round program specifically designed for veterans going to school under the GI Bill.
About 350 veterans are studying on Sierra College's sprawling campus, Morris said, and more than 200 of them served in combat zones in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Statewide, about 22,000 veterans are going to school under the GI Bill, including 300 at Sacramento City College and 575 at Sacramento's American River College. Each of the schools offers a range of veterans services.
But few colleges in the country, Morris said, have a program like Sierra's with a counselor dedicated full time to helping veterans navigate life after combat. Sierra even has a social club for veterans and courses in English and physical education adapted for men and women who survived the war zone.
When fall classes begin later this month, Morris will see new faces, but many of the same problems. Besides helping veterans map out an academic path and untangle the red tape of military benefits, Morris, who herself went to school under the GI Bill, guides them through the emotional fallout of coming home.
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