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___Fortiani» (Observer_____
November 13, 2013
Veterans Success on Campus
PCC counselors
ease transition
to student life
Portland Community College is
one of 94 colleges and universities
nationwide chosen to take part in
the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs' VetSuccesson Campus pro­
gram.
Counselors in the program help
ease veterans' transition to student
life and assist them in achieving
their educational and career goals
through the VA’s Post-9/11 GI Bill,
and other education benefit pro­
grams. The counselors also main­
tain close relationships with local
VA Vet Centers and VA medical
facilities, referring veterans as
needed for counseling or medical
services and providing assistance
enrolling in and applying for VA
medical and nonmedical benefits.
"We are very excited about hav­
ing this resource on campus,” said
Bert Logan, the college's director of
Financial Aid and Veteran Services.
“This gives us the extraordinary
opportunity to provide our student
veterans and their families with an
all-encompassing and holistic ex­
perience at PCC."
Logan said PCC has more than
sieve (Jordon (left) meets Bert Logan, the director o f Financial Aid and Veteran Services at Portland
Community College.
1,400 military vets on its campuses,
During the last few years, the col-
lege has im proved system s to
streamline certification of educa- ecutive Order 13607 "Establishing
tional benefits and was an early Principles of Excellence for Educa-
adopter o f President Obama’s Ex- tional Institutions Serving Service
Members, Veterans, Spouses, and
Other Family M embers."
Many of the principles in the
Presidential Order were already in
place at PCC through its own initia­
tives, Logan said.
One of the college's cornerstones
in serving military vets is the Rock
Creek Campus Veterans Resource
Center - the first, and only, one-stop
resource center at the college that
provides a space dedicated for stu­
dent veterans to network and relax.
There are plans to create full-ser­
vice Veterans Resource Centers on
other campus sites thanks to the
current work by the college's bond
program.
In addition, the college has ac­
tive veterans' clubs that meet at
locations around the district where
students come together to support
one another, share information and
promote strategies for improving
the veteran experience at PCC.
"For many veterans, the transi­
tion from military life to the aca­
demic world can seem more chal­
lenging than a boot camp obstacle
course," said Julie Barber, faculty
advisor for the PCC Sylvania Veter­
ans' Club. "Connecting with other
veterans, and especially with those
who have successfully navigated
that rocky route, can help im ­
mensely."
■
Registration for Winter Term 2014 beains Nov 12. Visit pcc.edu/admissions for more
Portland
C om m unity
C ollege
Cascade Campus
Get connected with your military
education benefits. Veterans’ benefits
advice is available every 2nd Thursday
from 8 a .m .- noon in the Student Center.
Visit p c c.e d u /v ets to team more.
Decorated Veteran
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fro n t
than 48 hours after she arrived in the
United States from an assignment in
Kuwait where the temperature was
140 degrees. She said they dis­
cussed the connections they had to
Chicago where she and the first
family also lived.
W atson’s 17 year military career
has included a variety of opera­
tional and staff assignments that
have taken her across the country.
She has been recalled to active
duty on four occasions, including
the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
over New York City, Washington,
D.C. and Pennsylvania; Operation
Enduring Freedom; Operation Iraqi
Freedom; and the Deepwater Hori­
zon Oil Spill.
As a civilian, she has held vari­
ous positions within the manufac­
turing and logistics communities and
is currently employed with Office
Depot Corporate Headquarters in
Boca Raton, Fla. as a senior man­
ager for Supply Chain Operations
Support for all of North America,
including the Dominican Republic.
Some of her personal awards in­
clude Joint Commendation Medal,
Army Commendation Medal, the
Coast Guard Commendation Medal,
four Coast Guard Achievem ent
Medals, and two Coast Guard Let­
ters of Commendation Awards.
military.
“It’s been a lot of luck really,
being in the right place at the right
time,” Watson told the Portland
Observer on Veterans Day Mon­
day. H er parents, Dorothy and
Michael Watson Sr., and a sister,
still live in Vancouver.
In a time honored military tradi­
tion called the Change o f Command,
W atson was formally and symboli­
cally handed authority over the Ft.
Eustis operation on Oct. 19. As
practiced today within the Coast
Guard, the change o f command is a
transfer of total responsibility, au­
thority, and accountability from one
individual to another.
During a July Fourth ceremony
at the White House last year, she
met President Barack Obama who
recognized her for being one o f the
first American-American women to
graduate from the Coast Guard
Academy. He also spoke of her ex­
ceptional service during Operation
Enduring Freedom. Watson earned
her military degree in government in
1996 after moving from Portland
where she attended Tubman and
other elementary schools.
She said meeting the president
and first lady was exhilarating, even
though it came during a period of
Donovan M. Smith also contrib­
exhaustion for her personally, less uted to this story.