Vet program lends soldiers a helping hand

For most Penn students, four straight hours spent at night in a classroom would be the equivalent of a nightmare.

But for Alberto Rosa, it's nothing less than a dream come true.

Rosa, who recently returned from tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, is now packing his bags once again to head off to University Park after being accepted to Penn State this year, all with the help of Penn's Veterans Upward Bound program.

Veterans Upward Bound is a federally funded program that provides necessary technical skills to veterans who are low-income or first-generation college students. The 14- to 28-week program provides support and academic instruction that prepares students for future endeavors.

VUB has been on Penn's campus since 1980, and, each year, it helps about 50 percent of its 120 participants go on to higher education, usually a four-year university, said program director Diane Sandefur.

"In essence, we're attempting to bring them back to high school and prepare them for college, " said Bill Berner, a physics-lab coordinator and a teacher in the program. "They attend school four nights a week and, along with the content, they get used to dealing with an academic schedule."

Rosa, who at 23 is one of the youngest students in VUB, is not the only one benefitting from the program, whose participants usually have spent time in the Vietnam and Gulf Wars.

Gulf War veteran Kevin Rozenblad is hoping that VUB can help him finally pursue a career in social work, a goal that he says may have taken much longer to achieve without the program.

"Going to the military teaches us how to go through certain obstacles," he said. We "adapt and improvise, physically and mentally. The scholastic world is more challenging, but I'm overcoming it."

Daniel Fann, a Navy veteran from the Gulf War as well, also spoke of the difficulties in returning to a civilian world.

"It was hard with my civilian status," he said. "I had a rough transition. People don't care about your military background."

And Sandefur believes that, although the public is overall supportive of the troops, government efforts could improve.

"There's a need for increased awareness and action by the federal government for when they return," she said.

Berner agreed, claiming that veterans are not the country's top priority.

"Veterans get an awfully short shrift [because] politicians and voters only care about tax cuts. The consequences don't end at discharge," he said.

Although funding has recently increased for the Department of Veteran Affairs, Penn's chapter is still the only VUB in all of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and one of only 39 across the country.

But despite limited resources, the program at Penn has still proven to be successful.

"They love it - they're so honored to take classes at Penn." Sandefur said. "A lot go to Van Pelt to study - Penn students help them with homework, . and they teach [Penn students] street slang."

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