By Cam Alsbrook
Managing Editor
Through the week of Nov. 8 – 12, the Department of Veterans Affairs held their tenth anniversary observation of veterans, planting 7,000 flags across the Cameron campus.
Coordinator of Veterans Affairs Vicki Henson said that the flags are in solidarity with veterans who have passed
on, or are currently with us the latter group is the emphasis for Veteran’s day.
“We’ve been kind of switching over the last few years to emphasizing that the flags are about our lives,” Henson said. “both our living veterans and our veterans who have died in the past conflicts.
“So it does have a history in both ways we were asked to participate years ago in a national roll call, and we’ve
continued to participate in that every year.”
Henson said that the flags are there as a growing reminder and an act of honor toward living veterans.
“We also want the flags to represent our living veterans, because the living veterans are our future,” Henson said. “and
we want to honor our living and current service members and active duty service members also.” Henson said many soldiers consider Cameron to be a military-friendly environment.
“We work very hard to be able to make this an environment where they can be nurtured and be successful,” Henson said. “We work with them on challenges they face when they transition out of the military. And we try to provide as many resources as possible to assist them in that.”
Henson said that resources provided by the VA or by Vet Success on Campus include career guidance, financial counseling and personal counseling, thanks to the help of Vet Success on Campus Coordinator Alford Finch.
“We’re the only campus in the state of Oklahoma that has a Vet Success on Campus counselor who’s there to assist veterans and he can help them with job marketability,” Henson said.
Any students who have VA educational benefits at Cameron are able to qualify for the aforementioned resources,
thanks to Finch, and the federal government.
Henson said that they help provide these services and more, so veterans have a way to pursue their aspirations.
“They’re our treasures our veterans are,” Henson said, “and so we want them to be successful in their new careers, and to achieve their goals and their dreams.”
Henson said that her passion for her job is to the veterans and dependents she helps, taking their opinions into account for decisions.
“Our veterans and our dependents and our service members and their families, all of them have given up so much
for our country,” Henson said, “and so my passion is to be able to assist them in achieving their dreams.
That’s always been my passion, so it’s close to my heart.” Henson said that, even though the focus is on the living veterans and service-members, families who have lost a loved one have made the greatest sacrifice.
“Our family members who have given the greatest sacrifice of having one of their loved ones gone are always on our
hearts, and close to our hearts,” Henson said. “and we want to do everything we can to comfort them, to provide support to them, and to make their lives to let them know that they are treasured on this campus and always will be
treasured on this campus.”
Henson also said that with so many resources available for families, the veterans community is a close-knit community.
For more information, email the Veterans Affairs office va@cameron.edu, call them at 581-2301, contact the Cameron
University chapter of the Student Veterans of America organization, or visit the “Military Matters” page on the Cameron
website at www.cameron.edu/militarymatters.