Decoding DEI: Of scholars and soldiers

For student veterans, education and service are deeply intertwined

Courtesy photo. Central Michigan University student Wyatt Heppner poses outside of the U.S. Capitol Building in this 2021 photo. Heppner, a member of the Michigan Army National Guard, was deployed to Washington, D.C., following the Jan. 6, 2021, attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

For many, college is a moment of significant change – a transition from one chapter of life to the next. But for veteran students, this transition carries unique challenges.

Michael Ritchings, 51, is a student veteran at Central Michigan University. However, his path to higher education was not easy.

With a desire to pursue a higher education, he saw the military as his ticket to a brighter future.

“I came from a poor family,” he said. “I didn’t earn any scholarships or anything like that coming out of school, so I had to go through the military to get that GI Bill (educational assistance for servicemembers and veterans.)”

Ritchings spent four years in the Marine Corps starting in 1990, then another four years in inactive reserve time, until 1998. During his 11 years in the military, he served around the globe in locations such as California, Germany, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Due to the housing market crash in 2008, he decided to re-enlist with the goal of retiring from the military and paving the way for his higher education.

However, in 2015, he ended up medically discharged.

Undeterred, Ritchings embarked on a new chapter, working for the Saginaw Veteran Medical Center. Through this, he bought his military time into federal employment and finally retired after 20 years of service.

He enrolled as a student at CMU the following fall semester. He’s now working towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a focus on studio work.

Many other veterans at CMU pursued a career in the military to afford college too, such as Wyatt Heppner.

As a high school senior weighing his options for the future, Heppner said he was drawn to the military by the promise of financial support for college.

In the summer of 2017, he joined the Michigan Army National Guard, working in radio communications.

While still in the service, Heppner started attending classes at CMU during the spring 2019 semester; he currently studies integrative public relations.

During his time at CMU, he found himself thrust into critical roles.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was activated to assist in converting the TCF Center, now called Huntington Place, in Detroit into a makeshift hospital.

Heppner said he didn’t miss any classes during this time; however, he wasn’t as lucky in 2021 when he was activated once again in response to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

While working a night shift at Soaring Eagle Casino, Heppner received a sudden call to report to Fort Custer. Within hours, he found himself deployed to Washington, D.C., as part of a massive National Guard presence following the Capitol riot.

What was initially intended to be a two-week assignment extended to three months, during which he stood guard outside the Capitol building.

Because of his time away, Heppner was forced to drop his classes. He said CMU hasn’t given him any issues because of this, and was able to receive a refund.

Despite the disruptions caused by his deployments, Heppner said CMU has been understanding and helpful in assisting him through these situations.

Resources and connections

One resource Heppner and Ritchings said has been extremely useful to them has been CMU’s Veterans’ Resource Center.

According to the Veterans’ Resource Center’s page on CMU’s website, it’s been ranked as a gold level, veteran-friendly school for the past eight years by the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency.

Shane Taylor, the assistant director of the Veterans’ Resource Center, said its main function is to “provide assistance with any and all VA education benefits.”

He said the office also helps students with tuition assistance and anything else to help them become successful on campus.

Duane Kleinhardt, the director of the resource center, said the veteran students who are most successful are the ones who feel welcomed.

“The other part of our job is to provide services and opportunities for those military-affiliated students to feel welcome on campus and not feel like they are out of place,” he said.

Transitioning from life in the military to university can oftentimes be challenging for veteran students. But according to a 2022 Student Climate Survey Report done by CMU, about 68% of military members and veterans said they felt welcome on campus.

“Their life experience is different,” Kleinhardt said. “They’ve often been responsible for much more than your typical freshman, and that changes people quickly.”

Since coming to campus, Ritchings said he’s experienced this.

“Veterans are a different culture, a different group, a different demographic,” he said. “When you go to your boot camp, it changes you, it messes with your head and makes you more susceptible to fight-or-flight responses. So being able to have somebody that might understand that and talk about that is very helpful.”

Some 32.2% said that the Veterans Resource Center had somewhat or very much helped them in their adjustment, while 32.1% of the respondents in the Student Climate Survey Report said the office hasn’t facilitated their adjustment to civilian life at all.

Heppner said the best way for student veterans to adapt to life on campus is to get in contact and connect with others.

“Try to be somewhat involved in something on campus because it helps keep your focus with stuff that’s going on, on campus,” Heppner said. “Because there’s no one that’s going to be there telling you that you need to do something.”

Ritchings urged other veterans to also pursue a higher education and to take advantage of the resources that CMU has to offer; however, he said that they must take the initiative.

“It’s just a matter of doing it,” he said. “Just come in, go into the school that you want to go to and talk to them. There’s somebody that will talk to you, but they won’t take those first steps, so just do it.”