Marine veteran and National Guardsman John Summerlot cut a slice of a cake decorated with the Marine Corps emblem Saturday and handed it to a younger man.
Nov. 10 is the United States Marine Corps birthday and at celebrations, the oldest Marine present traditionally gives the youngest Marine the first piece of cake as a symbol of passing on experience and knowledge to the next generation.
Nov. 10 was also the day veteran and active military students from IU-Bloomington and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis gathered at the new Center for Veteran and Military Students to tailgate and celebrate the Bloomington center’s opening.
“I would love to see more of our veterans and military students feeling connected to the center and feeling supported and connected at IU,” said Summerlot, the director of the new center.
The Center for Veteran and Military Students used to be Veterans Support Services, an office in the Division of Student Affairs. The center works with veterans and active military members studying at IU, helping them process GI paperwork, finding financial resources and organizing programs to help students succeed, such as resume workshops or tutoring sessions.
Summerlot said the number of students Veterans Support Services helped has tripled since the its opening in 2009. This was because of IU recruitment and the 2008 passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which funds 100 percent of a veteran’s college tuition at a public, four-year school.
“Our office, at 500 square feet crammed into the Union, was getting really tight,” Summerlot said.
Summerlot said when the chance to move to a new location at the corner of 11th Street and Woodlawn Avenue and become a physical center arrived, Veterans Support Services took it. With the larger space, Summerlot said he wants to expand programming for veteran and active military students, including guardsmen and ROTC members.
“We don’t want veterans to think we’re just the people who just process the GI Bill paperwork,” Summerlot said.
Veteran Sarah Bassett said she was excited about the new center.
“It’s fantastic,” Bassett said. “Other than the walk, but you know, I could probably use the walk.”
Bassett said the center and Veterans Support Services provided an important space for veterans and military students to feel like they belonged on campus.
“When you’re an adult — because I’m 31 —it’s hard to relate to some of the 18-year-olds on campus,” Bassett said.
Paula Cluver is an Army veteran who Bassett described as “the heart of the center”. Cluver said she would like to see the center expand to have specific military housing, so veterans and military students coming to IU could feel comfortable living with people like themselves.
“A lot of times veterans can’t talk about what we’ve seen because it’s just too much,” Cluver said. “But we can talk with each other because we’ve all been there.”
Summerlot said he likes to joke that the center’s job is to put square pegs in round holes. It exists to help nontraditional students such as adult veterans and active military members with spouses and families navigate a campus made for 20-somethings.
“Our job is to help them fit in and navigate and feel like they’re supported here,” Summerlot said.
