University of Michigan – Flint is this month’s Featured Campus! “UM-Flint has really gotten off to a great start. Their team and campus have passion for the program and hit the ground running! They have reported remarkable faculty support and engagement. They also hosted an open house at their Veteran Service Center and sent out welcome emails to all their student veterans. Additionally, they engaged with off campus resources and incorporated that into their open house. It is clear the U-M – Flint PAVE team is there to support one another and their student veterans,” says Program Manager Kali Lake. 

The U-M – Flint team is launching PAVE this semester. Veteran services coordinator Helen Budd has recruited Team Leaders Justin Irons, Kelly Parrott, Christopher Mayes, and Lilly Tendero, as well as Peer Advisor Alyssa Lunsford. As they grow the program, they plan to expand their team to include more Peer Advisors.

Part of their team lives within driving distance to their campus, while one lives out of state and another even lives in Asia. This geographic distribution is representative of their institution’s student body as a whole since U-M Flint offers many online course and degree options. Connecting with student veterans who they may never see in person can be a challenge, but the U-M – Flint team is doing consistent, targeted outreach to their student veteran population. This outreach has already started to yield some encouraging results.

Recently, a Team Leader connected with one of their assigned student veterans. The student veteran was a single parent and the Team Leader was able to advise that student on how to sign up for online tutoring as well as assist them on deciding on majors/minors to declare.

Helen describes the team as “passionate and engaged,” driven by the desire to “help their brothers and sisters.” She says she’s very proud of the team for the way they take time out of their busy lives to reach out to other student veterans. “I’m really proud of them for stepping up and doing that. It gives me a lot of heart for what I’m trying to do to help students.”

Keep up the great work, U-M – Flint!