“The Central Oregon Community College (COCC) PAVE Team has shown a strong commitment to supporting their student veterans on campus. Their focus on growing involvement with their campus and wider community, in addition to growing their team, highlights their dedication to providing outstanding service to their students,” says Emma Czajka, PAVE Program Coordinator.

COCC has 271 military-affiliated students enrolled for the fall term, with 74 assigned to Peer Advisors. The PAVE team includes Veterans Services Coordinator Bonnie Jordan, Campus Champion Christy Walker, and Peer Advisors Chase Feinhold, Tony Parker, Jake Sonnier, and Cam Wilkerson. Collectively, they focus on serving first- and second-term students to aid their transition into college.

The COCC PAVE team takes a unique approach to PAVE on their campus, tailoring the program seamlessly to fit their campus and student body. Part of their success stems from the strong teamwork, even without a designated Team Leader. “If we communicate effectively, we’re able to get all the objectives that we want to meet done by ourselves,” says Jake.

The team’s emphasis on clarity and communication helps make a difference at the student and institutional levels. Tony is working with administrators to ensure that course descriptions use language that will not lead to denied VA coverage for student veterans. This is just one way that the COCC PAVE team goes above and beyond to take care of the students they serve.

The COCC PAVE team has recently moved into a new, larger VRC space, expanding the in-person community they are building for their student veterans. According to Jake, “the sense of community here has grown significantly since we’ve had our new space.” This sentiment was mirrored by Cam, who is seeing more student veterans visiting the new space, saying “I think that proves to me that we’re fostering some type of environment here that is bringing people back and making them want to be here.” The growing community and dedication of the COCC PAVE team to helping the student veterans on campus are exceptional and positioned to continue expanding.

Keep up the fantastic work, COCC!