The Veterans Resource Center (VRC) opened at Yuba this semester. It is a spacious spot for veterans that has computers, wireless Internet, study tables, a lending library, and a cozy lounge area with a big screen TV. It is in room 726, and it is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
A veteran center is vital for veterans because many are non-traditional college students and need a place where they have peers with similar life experiences. Many other community colleges already have a veteran center. Although Yuba College has almost 200 veterans on record each semester, it took a while for the VRC to be established.
Veteran Affairs Representative Tom Pitock and the Yuba Student Veterans Association had a difficult time finding a suitable area and the funds for the VRC. Anyone who has deployed, however, will tell you that veterans are used to getting the job done with limited resources.
The Student Veterans Association made a proposal to take building 726 with minimal cost to the college. The VRC was the product of a community effort: Brandman University donated a lot of the desks and chairs, private donors gave the couch and wireless router, Yuba rented the moving truck, the Beale AFB testing center profits paid for the computers, and veterans provided the labor to move the furniture and refurbish the building. “I’m amazed by the way the community has supported us,” said Pitock.
The Veterans Resource Center is a little hard to find, tucked away in the back of campus. Pitock remarked, “This is the perfect space. Other than the fact that is at the end of campus. The ideal Veterans Resource Center would have my position housed here in the [VRC], which may happen in the future.”
Despite its location, it is a valuable resource for our Nation’s heroes. The Veteran Resource Center is exclusive to veterans, but members can sponsor anyone who would like to visit.
NOTE: This article originally appeared in the Spring 2015 print edition of The Prospector
Dale Holder is a BioEngineering major at Yuba College, and a reporter for the Prospector.
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