As soon as you set foot on MiraCosta College, our dedication to veterans, active-duty personnel and their dependents becomes obvious.
It becomes obvious through the recently dedicated Veterans Memorial Garden in front of the Administration Building on the Oceanside campus, a garden that includes five black granite benches, each inscribed with the emblem and name of a military branch and a ground covering that includes Flanders Field poppies.
It becomes obvious through the Veterans Information Center, which provides veteran-to-veteran tutoring, benefits counseling, enrollment assistance and academic advising, as well as Disabled Students Programs and Services, which connects veterans to community-based resources for assistance with post-traumatic stress disorder counseling and learning disability assessment.
And it becomes obvious through the makeup of the college itself. At MiraCosta College, just a few miles from the west coast's largest Marine Corps base and home to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, roughly 15 percent of the student population is composed of veterans and active-duty military personnel. This past academic year, for example, the college enrolled 550 active-duty military, 1,300 veterans, and an additional 1,000 of their family members in courses at our campuses in Oceanside and Cardiff or online.
Seventy years after our nation made a commitment to the 16 million veterans returning from World War II by enacting the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, more commonly known as the G.I. Bill, MiraCosta College remains committed to the honor of serving the needs of our current and former military families.
"The faculty here at the Veterans Center and veterans counselor Nancy Diaz have made the transition from being a Marine to a student simple and stress-free," said MiraCosta College student Paula Sepeda.
Sepeda isn't alone in her positive assessment of the college's dedication to veterans. Over the years, thousands of veterans and active duty military have earned a degree or certificate from MiraCosta College, where they received specialized counseling, priority registration and a supportive learning environment.
Alex Klimek , for example, first came to Oceanside in 2001 when he enlisted in the service and was stationed at Camp Pendleton. Klimek studied biotech at MiraCosta College and earned a degree in May.
"MiraCosta is a great school," he said. "It has invaluable resources, the admissions office is very helpful, the book loan program has been great, and the college has an excellent tutoring program both in person and online."
Brendan Duffy, meanwhile, is a retired Marine Corps sergeant who earned a degree from MiraCosta College in 2006 before transferring to UCLA and landing a job as a technical project manager at Dictionary.com.
"I actually liked the academic quality at MiraCosta better than UCLA," Duffy said. "The professors actually care about what you think. The focus is on teaching, not research, so everyone who is there really wants to put on a good course. It's very much about teaching and student?teacher interaction."
There is no doubt that MiraCosta College plays a vital role in helping veterans acquire the education and job skills necessary to stay up to date in an evolving economy. And the college is playing a vital role in helping veterans transition from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to civilian life back home.
June's 70th anniversary of the G.I. Bill is a reminder of the country's responsibility to honor our veterans' service not just in words, but also in deeds. At MiraCosta College, we proudly accept that responsibility and serve all of our students with pride.
It becomes obvious through the recently dedicated Veterans Memorial Garden in front of the Administration Building on the Oceanside campus, a garden that includes five black granite benches, each inscribed with the emblem and name of a military branch and a ground covering that includes Flanders Field poppies.
It becomes obvious through the Veterans Information Center, which provides veteran-to-veteran tutoring, benefits counseling, enrollment assistance and academic advising, as well as Disabled Students Programs and Services, which connects veterans to community-based resources for assistance with post-traumatic stress disorder counseling and learning disability assessment.
And it becomes obvious through the makeup of the college itself. At MiraCosta College, just a few miles from the west coast's largest Marine Corps base and home to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, roughly 15 percent of the student population is composed of veterans and active-duty military personnel. This past academic year, for example, the college enrolled 550 active-duty military, 1,300 veterans, and an additional 1,000 of their family members in courses at our campuses in Oceanside and Cardiff or online.
Seventy years after our nation made a commitment to the 16 million veterans returning from World War II by enacting the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, more commonly known as the G.I. Bill, MiraCosta College remains committed to the honor of serving the needs of our current and former military families.
"The faculty here at the Veterans Center and veterans counselor Nancy Diaz have made the transition from being a Marine to a student simple and stress-free," said MiraCosta College student Paula Sepeda.
Sepeda isn't alone in her positive assessment of the college's dedication to veterans. Over the years, thousands of veterans and active duty military have earned a degree or certificate from MiraCosta College, where they received specialized counseling, priority registration and a supportive learning environment.
Alex Klimek , for example, first came to Oceanside in 2001 when he enlisted in the service and was stationed at Camp Pendleton. Klimek studied biotech at MiraCosta College and earned a degree in May.
"MiraCosta is a great school," he said. "It has invaluable resources, the admissions office is very helpful, the book loan program has been great, and the college has an excellent tutoring program both in person and online."
Brendan Duffy, meanwhile, is a retired Marine Corps sergeant who earned a degree from MiraCosta College in 2006 before transferring to UCLA and landing a job as a technical project manager at Dictionary.com.
"I actually liked the academic quality at MiraCosta better than UCLA," Duffy said. "The professors actually care about what you think. The focus is on teaching, not research, so everyone who is there really wants to put on a good course. It's very much about teaching and student?teacher interaction."
There is no doubt that MiraCosta College plays a vital role in helping veterans acquire the education and job skills necessary to stay up to date in an evolving economy. And the college is playing a vital role in helping veterans transition from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to civilian life back home.
June's 70th anniversary of the G.I. Bill is a reminder of the country's responsibility to honor our veterans' service not just in words, but also in deeds. At MiraCosta College, we proudly accept that responsibility and serve all of our students with pride.