California state-funded colleges are required to provide an assistance center for veterans and military-connected students, but the Veterans Resource Center at Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) goes beyond the mandate to support nontraditional students.
Giselle Young has overseen the Veterans Resource Center since its debut in 2016. In addition to processing educational benefits for nearly 300 military-connected students, Young has transformed the center into a keeper of history for the Fort Ord military base, the site on which CSUMB was built.
“They used to train soldiers here, and now we’re training students to go out into the world and be successful humans,” Young said.
Young has decorated her office, the lobby and the lounge area with Fort Ord memorabilia. Many of the photos, letters and even the American flag in the student lounge are donations from the Fort Ord Alumni Association and the Presidio of Monterey.
Young, who serves as the veteran services coordinator, has had a vision of creating an on-campus museum dedicated to the history of Fort Ord, a goal she has been promoting since the center’s opening.
“It’s not something I’m going to give up on until I retire,” Young said. “The history of this place is amazing and not a lot of people know it and nobody really wants to know it anymore. It’s kind of sad.”
Although the daily turnout isn’t particularly high, Young values the center as a safe space for veterans and military-connected students to bond over shared experiences.
“Some of our students are combat veterans, and they don’t like to be around big crowds or noisy crowds. Even the library’s a little too busy for them,” Young said. “This is a quieter indoor space where they can feel safe to just put their head down and focus and not have to be on alert.”
Young describes the center’s primary demographic as nontraditional students – those who are often older and potentially have families or off-campus jobs. She is proud of the center’s role in helping them manage their academic responsibilities.
“They’ve been around the world, they’ve done a lot of things, so they’re a little different than a first-time freshman coming right out of high school,” Young said. “There are a lot of nontraditional students on this campus, and their needs are important too. These are serious students.”
The main thing Young wants students to know about the Veterans Resource Center is, “where it is.”
The center is located on 6th Avenue across from the World Theater in Building 47 Room H110, sharing the space with Student Services. Young knows the center doesn’t get much foot traffic being that it’s based on the outer rim of campus.
“We were a stop on the trick-or-treat trail, and we got like four people. That was it,” said Young. “It would be nice if everybody knew where we were – or knew that they could just call and say, ‘Hey, where are you?’”