Resources for Faculty and Staff

The Cuyamaca Veterans Center is dedicated to providing resources to students as well as faculty and staff to ensure that Cuyamaca College is a safe and impactful environment for our veteran students to thrive. Therefore, we have compiled some information to assist you and your service area or classroom in incorporating and understanding the veteran experience.

"Understanding the Veteran Experience" mini-series

To understand the veteran student experience, you must first understand the making of a service member, how they transition and what transitioning into a civilian feels like, and what college may feel like to a veteran student. The Cuyamaca Veterans Center has compiled a few videos to explain these aspects of the veteran experience and can be found below. We ask that you take some time to watch and grow your own cultural competency regarding military culture.

From Civilian To Service Member To Veteran To College Student

Please watch below for a very short and brief description of what basic training is like for Sailors, and one aspect as to why a veteran might struggle to gain their footing in college. Please note that this is Navy Boot Camp and does not depict other branches.

Back To Basics

The video below describes the process, or lack of process, of transition from service member to veteran. Here, we discuss the emotional and mental toll that separation can have on a service member and how some cope with the unknown of life after service.

Maze Runner

The video below describes how a veteran mindset and a lack of proper transition assistance can complicate the complex world of college. Here, we discuss miscommunication that can occur between faculty/staff and the veteran student.

How Can We Be Better?

In the video below we will take all that we have learned from the videos above and talk about some simple, yet effective, solutions to making the veteran experience in college more successful. We invite you to brainstorm some ideas that might work best for your own area!