According to
the Navy Times, the number of active duty members of the military and veterans
taking advantage of the GI Bill to go to college increased 13 percent in 2012
to nearly 500,000, along with 50,000 dependents.
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| Craig Hill and Sabrina Crenshaw are mother and son vets at GCC |
Some of
them, including 44-year-old Germanna student and GCC Veterans Services Office
work study Sabrina Crenshaw have had college in mind for a long time.
“A lot of
people go into the military because they couldn’t afford to go to college,” she
says. “My parents couldn’t afford to send me, so I joined the Army.”
After two years of duty, she left the Army she
returned to civilian life, planning to go to college.
“It didn’t
work out like I wanted,” she says, “so I joined the Navy.” She did a 20-year
tour in the Navy, working with Marines.
While she
was in the Navy, she jokingly told her son that they would end up going to
college together.
That’s the way things worked out. Her son,
Craig Hill, went into the Air Force so he could use the GI Bill for college.
Now he’s returned to civilian life and is also a Germanna student.
Crenshaw is working toward a career as a
paraprofessional mental health counselor.
Hill plans to enter Germanna’s Pharmacy Technician program.
“Sabrina and Craig are typical of those
families with a heritage of several generations having served in the military,”
says Robert M. Dixon, Germanna’s Student Veterans Counselor. “With the duration of our military
involvement in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, we can expect more occurrences
where parent and child are both veterans studying at the same college. This is an indicator of the value our
veterans place on their education and the importance of the benefits they have
earned for their continuing education.”
Crenshaw, who attended a larger college before
enrolling at GCC, says she likes Germanna better because: “Germanna is more
people oriented. It’s more caring. At the other college, you’re just a number.
Here the staff really takes care of the students and the instructors make sure
students understand what’s being taught.”
Both
Crenshaw and Hill say the transition from the military to civilian life has
been difficult.
“In the
military you know what you’re going to do, what time you are to be there and
there are consequences,” Crenshaw says.
“In civilian life, if you do it, you do it and if you don’t, you don’t.”
Hill, who is 21, says: “I’m used to the
structure. But if I have a plan, I’m OK. For me, it’s difficult to be in the
classroom with kids just out of high school. ”
They both
said they appreciate the GI Bill’s educational benefits. “It’s nice to have your
country give something back to you,” Crenshaw says. “I’m enjoying it.”
Dixon says
that like many veterans, Crenshaw, who was a petty officer E6, and Hill, who
was an Airman E2 had more responsibility
in the military than someone in a comparable stage in civilian life.
“Veterans are a tremendous resource for
society,” Dixon said. “They’re mission-focused. They’ve produced proven
results. They know how to organize resources and people. Why wouldn’t we want
to leverage that in the community?“
