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Alec Sheridan, 31, a senior UTampa student studying accounting, is one of 215 military and veteran students at the University of Tampa.

Coming out of high school, he knew he wanted to serve in the military. He joined the Marines, and it was eight years later that he knew he wanted to pursue higher education.

Now, he is about to graduate, and this week, at the Veterans Resource Welcome held in the veterans lounge on campus, he took some time to reflect on his academic journey. 

Sheridan transferred to UTampa as a business management major, and he was at first unsure about a mandatory class on his schedule, UTAMPA 104-1 – Becoming a Spartan for Military Veterans. The instructor quickly won him over, though. 

“The first day of class totally switched my stance,” Sheridan said. “Jack Gil Smith, he’s just able to give all the veteran students information they may not know.”

Gil Smith, a veteran himself and a lecturer in the Sykes College of Business, said his Becoming a Spartan class hosts speakers to make student veterans aware of certain services available to them. He brings in representatives from the career services office, for instance, to talk about jobs and résumés.

The information is similar to what’s taught to all incoming Spartans, Gil Smith said, but his class is tailored to those with military backgrounds and how their experiences serving the country can be translated to other applications.

“The way we say things is different, and people who aren’t familiar with that may not understand,” Gil Smith said. “It’s almost like a second language.” 

Gil Smith also has brought in campus professionals to talk about counseling, health services and anything related to benefits.

Bridgette Shipley, coordinator of veteran student services, organized the Veterans Resource Welcome. The event kicked off the spring semester and was meant to help veteran students learn about what is available to them on campus, including access to her — for anything from help connecting to the VA to all the way to finding things to do.

She said many veterans don’t know all the resources available to them, including a group called Student Veterans of America. Sheridan leads the UTampa chapter. SVA provides student veterans with the community, resources, support and advocacy needed to succeed in higher education and gives them the ability to connect with other student vets from across the country, Sheridan said. He’s working to increase membership.

Veteran students tend to be older than the typical college student, and they tend to want to go home at the end of their school day, he said.

“Unfortunately, veterans for the most part, most of them have less time to spend on student organizations because many veterans have families and other jobs,” he said.

Still, he said he is trying to grow the organization and get more veterans involved.

The veterans lounge is a good place to find out what’s going on with student veterans. Shipley said that toward the end of the semester, the University will have the Salute induction ceremony, which is a national honors society for military and veteran students. She also wants to have a 9/11 memorial service next year. She’s looking for ways to include more faculty and staff.

“I want to be able to create a training for staff and faculty to make it a little bit easier to work with veteran students,” she said.