“The Veteran’s Club wants
you,” that is the message from
club adviser Matt Cipriano, a
U.S. Army veteran and the
director of Student Life
Programs, to the approximately
150 military veterans
enrolled at Bucks. Over the past year there
has been renewed interest in
Veteran’s issues and the
Veteran’s Club. The Veteran’s
Club is in the process of being
revitalized after being dormant
since 2000. Cipriano sees the
Veteran’s Club playing an
important role in the academic
and personal lives of veterans.
Although more and more
military veterans have been
taking advantage of the educational
benefits available to
them, Cipriano pointed out that
veterans were largely isolated
from each other here on campus.
For a long time there was
little focus on veteran’s issues
and veterans had yet to establish
their presence on campus.
BY: JOHN MACDONALD
Centurion Editor
“That has changed over the
past year. Now the veterans
are coming together,” says
Cipriano.
Cipriano sees the revitalized
Veterans’ Club as a vehicle
for providing veterans with
information about the wide
variety of services available to
veterans. Veterans are unaware
of the panoply of available
services. Cipriano said that he
went to a meeting on the topic
at the Naval Yard and was
shocked at the number of government
agencies and programs
available. “One of the
things that I would like do, is
to bring various officials in to
explain about their agency and
the benefits it provides to veterans.”
There has been much
greater awareness of Veteran’s
issues on the community college
level and a lot of resources
are being made available to
address those issues. Cipriano
said that he has money made
available by the Collegiate
Consortium for programs that
benefit veterans.
One of the things that he
would like the Veterans Club to
do is to organize trips to broaden
veteran’s cultural perspective.
“Something like a trip to
Washington, D.C. , perhaps. It
wouldn’t need to be wholly
educational. It would be fun as
well,” said Cipriano.
Most importantly, the
Veterans Club provides a
venue for the veterans themselves
to determine and
address their own needs.
Cipriano believes that by participating
with each other,
“those needs will bubble out.”
One hopeful sign that veterans
are coming together more on
campus is found in the utilization
of the Stars and Stripes
Lounge, which utilized money
provided by the College
Consortium.
Since it opened last Fall,
Cipriano sees an increase in
the numbers of veterans using
the Stars and Stripes Lounge to
study or just chill out.
The Lounge is equipped
with resources like a computer
and WiFI access for those that
have their own laptops.
“During the day, the Lounge is
being used by 15 to 20 vets,
some of whom are in and out
several times a day.” In the
evening, the Lounge is mostly
used before the start of classes
at 6:30 pm, and Cipriano estimates
that it is used by five to
ten vets each night.
When they were on active
duty, veterans were used to
receiving the support from
their fellow servicepeople.
The Veterans’ Club offers an
opportunity to meet with new
comrades on matters of common
interest and to benefit
from each other’s support.
Cipriano invites veterans
that are interested in joining
the Veterans Club or with questions
about other veterans’
issues to either email him at
[email protected] or
call him at 215-986-8257.
Cipriano’s office and the Stars
and Stripes Lounge can be
found across from the cafeteria in the Student Life offices.