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ransitioning from any branch of the military impacts an individual physically, mentally, and emotionally. Jackson State University’s Veterans Services Program aims to help veteran students with that transition.
The Veterans Center officially opened on campus in August of 2012 led by director, Timothy Abrams, who also serves in the United States Army Reserve. With a rapid increase of veteran students, the services offered at the center are designed to help student veterans adapt to an academic institution and also serve as a liaison between the veteran student community and the university. The Veterans Center, which is located on the first floor of the Jacob L.Reddix Building, offers students academic and advising service, transition assistance, veteran career transition, veterans work-study, family assistance and counseling services in conjunction with the Latasha Norman Center for Counseling and Psychological Services. The services are provided in an effort to change the sub-culture of veteran students on campus by giving them a place they can call home on campus and a voice to make sure they are connected with the rest of their peers on and off campus and within the community. Fredricus Funchess, a junior computer engineering student from Georgetown, Miss., went straight to war right after his high school graduation. Funchess is a 21 year-old Army National Guardsman and a father. When trying to re-enter society after being deployed to Iraq, Funchess hit the ground running and ended up enrolled as a student at JSU. “I like to consider myself a hardworking man. After I came back, getting into school was easy with the help of my mother. She handled a lot of my paperwork and scholarship business while I was deployed,� said Funchess.
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