Ian Juarez EDINBURG – The Military and Veterans Success Center at UTRGV is an organization whose mission is to provide assistance to students who serve or have served in the military.
“Veteran’s Day is not just a single day to thank veterans,” said Elda Arriaga, the director for the Military and Veterans Success Center. “We should be thanking them year-round for their service, and we’re committed to serving veterans here at UTRGV.”
The Military and Veterans Success Center assists students when it comes to accessing benefits they may receive for their services including but not limited to chapter benefits, tuition assistance, peer events and scholarship programs.
Christian Aguilar, the president for the Student Veterans of America UTRGV chapter and marine veteran of five years, said the center helped him stay on track with graduations, and the transition between his military life and student life.
“It’s put me in a position to sort of help other veterans transition from either the military life or civilian life into being a better student, being, more prepared academically, and most of all, just kind of helping them transition from a different sort of, lifestyle into being a student,” Arriaga said.
Arriaga said the center has a “holistic” approach, and that its main goal is to ensure students have a good experience on campus while pursuing an academic career.
Aguilar shared some of the social benefits students can access under the success center.
“So, we have different programs that we run throughout the year. We promote, career services, our disability office, our, after the Athletics, we provide assistance to those athletes, that are using benefits, and we ensure that they have them in a timely manner as well.” said Arriaga. “If you’re a veteran here at UTRGV and you feel like you need help, don’t be afraid to reach out to us. We’re here to help. And we look forward to seeing more veterans come through our door.”
In UTRGV’s football game against the Nicholls Colonels, athletics dedicated a moment before the game to veterans as well as dedicating the halftime show to those who have served our country.
