“The Bowling Green State University PAVE team has shown incredible drive and momentum in supporting their student veterans on campus. They consistently conduct and log creative outreach and interaction efforts and demonstrate a strong passion for providing resources to the students they serve,” says Emma Czajka, PAVE Program Coordinator.

Bowling Green State University has around 550 military-connected students on their campus. The PAVE team is made up of 6 Peer Advisors, Team Leader Anthony Alessio, Veterans Services Coordinators Geoff Roberts, Bryan Bills, and David Rice, and Campus Champion Barbara Henry. Together they directly serve around 30 of their military-connected students through PAVE while working with their Veterans Resource Center to support the rest of the military-connected population on campus.

The BGSU PAVE team is committed to creating an environment of community and belonging for military-connected students on campus. One of the ways the team builds this sense of belonging is by inviting military-connected students to tour the veterans center during every initial outreach.

According to Geoff Roberts, “We notice that in the students that repeatedly come to the vet center … just seeing that community build among them has been the most rewarding aspect [of PAVE] for me.” This sentiment was echoed by Peer Advisor William Shirey, who said that PAVE “seems to make them more comfortable and brings that home feeling on campus quicker. It sets up those students for success.”

In addition to being a foundation of community for their military-connected students, the BGSU PAVE team has proven itself to be a valuable source of information and resources. One of the keys to their strong community is because they have “different mentors who have all the different experiences and they each bring something valuable to the team,” says Peer Advisor Chris Ogle. Anthony Alessio added to this, saying that he is proud of the team for “taking their own experiences and applying it to each of their students that they have been assigned … and using that to create that personal relationship.”

This constantly evolving approach to providing peer support has allowed the BGSU PAVE team to assist their students with everything from enrolling in benefits to preparing their uniforms for military balls. Overall, in the words of Bryan Bills, the experience of PAVE on campus has been “overwhelmingly positive,” for the team and the students.

Keep up the great work, BGSU PAVE team!