At the 11th hour, of the 11th day on the 11th month, Veterans were recognized on UK’s campus.
State, school and of course the American flag fluttered in the wind this morning outside the Main Building on UK’s campus in honor of the men and women who have served our country. Anthony Dawson with UK’s Veterans Resource Center was there to give heartfelt thanks.
"They don't get to dictate the level of support of the general public. They don't have a say in the political decisions that lead us to war. They don't get to write the news reports that are plastered across our televisions. They simply step forward, raise their right hands, and take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America," he told the audience.
One of the women who took that oath was Jessica Shaffer. The former Army Staff Sergeant is now a junior at UK and says the transition from military to college life is challenging.
"You remove yourself from the academic environment when you join the military, so you kind of lose that by being away from books and studying and lectures for four years usually," she says. "And also just feeling like an outsider on campus. I wouldn't say there's a lot here at UK necessarily, but I've had a lot of friends that just feel so much older than all the other college students so it's really hard to fit in."
Shaffer is studying economics and is on track to graduate but her success story isn’t the norm. Less than 50 percent of veterans return to school and the veteran student dropout rate is more than 80 percent. Dawson said he hopes to change those numbers nationally and at the University of Kentucky.
