From left, Jamestown Community College Student Veteran Club President Nick Norton, Student Veterans of America President (SVA) Jared Lyon, JCC Club Vice-President Dan Gonzalez, and JCC Club Advisor Don Pool are pictured at the SVA National Convention which was held Jan 2-4 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Submitted photo

Jamestown Community College has sent two students and one staff member to attend the 17 Annual Student Veterans of America National Conference which was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jan. 2-4.

Representing JCC, at this year’s SVA conference were Nick Norton, JCC Military Veterans and Military Aligned Club president, Dan Gonzalez, JCC club vice president, and Don Pool, JCC Club advisor and JCC accessibilities coordinator.

“This event is amazing,” said Pool. “There’s just so much information, good information. …Everything from students using their Veterans Administration (VA) benefits to club recruitment and everything else in-between.

Echoing Pool’s statement, Gonzalez said, “I enjoyed this thoroughly. This was like a firehose of information thrown at us. There were representatives from various congressional offices, social media influencers, different chambers of commerce representatives, and the U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs Denis McDonough was a guest speaker and so much more.”

According to studentveterans.org, the SVA is a non-for-profit, 501 (c) (3)organization, that focuses on addressing the needs and concerns of American military veterans in higher education. SVA is an umbrella organization for student veterans’ groups that advocates for improvements in veterans’ educational benefits. The organization was founded in 2008 at the height of the Global War on Terrorism and boasts a membership of more than 1,600 charter clubs in various colleges, universities and other entities of higher education, along with having more than 750,000 student veteran club members.

“SVA really works to protect and expand our educational benefits,” said Gonzalez, who is a former United States Army combat medic and a licensed practical nurse. “I’m in school now as a nursing student to become an RN (registered nurse.)

Pool explained how networking within the SVA has benefited past JCC students.

“Last year, one of our military veteran students, Yeidy Bishop, attended the convention and was recruited and hired to work full-time at the SVA,” said the former U.S. Army combat engineer. “You just never know what connections you can make at this event.”

For more information about JCC’s military veteran programs contact Melissa Stormer JCC’s School Certifying Official (SCO) at Military@mail.sunyjcc.edu or call 716-338-1018.