U.S. Senator Marshall tours JCCC’s services for student veterans

Students gathered to share their military stories with U.S. Senator Roger Marshall at Johnson County Community College on Thursday.

The first-term Republican visited the college’s Veteran and Military Student Resource Center to hear about their experiences transitioning from military to civilian life.

It was part of a swing through Johnson County that also took Marshall to the groundbreaking of a new AdventHealth campus at Lenexa City Center.

JCCC’s Veteran and Military Student Resource Center offers a range of programs for student veterans, from financial aid to mentoring services.
The college’s Peer Advisors for Veteran Education program, for example, partners incoming student veterans with a student veteran already on campus.
The federally administered VetSuccess on Campus program also connects student veterans with vocational counselors, who can help them find health care and mental health services.

Marshall served in the U.S. Army Reserve and his youngest son now serves in the U.S. Army Reserve, which Marshall said helped his son fund his college education on his own.
During his visit Thursday, he commended the “home base” that student veterans form with each other on and off campus at JCCC.
“One thing I’ve learned with veterans that may be different than other groups coming out of high school is we like to be a part of the team,” he said. “Even though you get tired of bunking with 18 other people, you still want to be part of the team. And I have a feeling that’s what this niche does here.”

JCCC student and Marine Corps veteran Cesar Duron, who briefly met with Marshall on Thurday, said molding his experiences as a student and as a veteran while on campus has been eye-opening.
As a PAVE advisor mentoring newer vets on campus, he said he is passionate about letting other veterans know they have access to each other and to health and well-being resources.
“Coming here and realizing how many resources there are for veterans kind of blew my mind,” Duron said. “It kind of gave me a passion to give back and find other veterans like myself, just to give them awareness of how much resources there are for them.”