Something Our Veterans De-S.E.R.V.E.
by Sara Kay Guercio

Services to Enhance Reservists & Veterans Education (S.E.R.V.E.), is a program featured here at Kingsborough to help veterans and reservists transition from battlefield to home field for educational success.  

The administrators of the program, Catherine Granton and Danielle Carriero, offer a safe place for veterans where they can join support groups and receive academic and personal counseling.   Some of the other services offered are: Peer support groups, Scholarship referral services, brochures and applications regarding education, health and work related benefits. Veterans can find comfort and help at any time through this program, located in the Arts and Science building in S-228.   The telephone number is 718-368-5472, but they can also be contacted them on their website, SERVE@kbcc.cuny.edu.   Any student that is not a veteran can also feel free to contact the office with further questions, or other interests they may have.

There are no obligations with S.E.R.V.E., veterans are free to stop in at any time and are not obligated to come back, there are no fees, and no commitments attached.   This program is purely to make life a little bit easier for veterans.  

S.E.R.V.E. also holds events here on campus to further our knowledge on topics that are relevant to veterans and discuss issues that they have faced, or are still facing today.

For example, on April 3, a Health and Science specialist for Brooklyn VA hospital, Jo Potestivo, came here on campus and held a discussion about post traumatic stress disorder, in room M-239.

Also, on April 10, Dr. Roscoe C. Brown Jr., former Tuskeegee Airman, was a guest speaker for The Heroic History of African American Fliers.

There are many veterans here on our own campus that we do not know about, whether they served in WW II, Vietnam, or Iraq; S.E.R.V.E. is a place made just for them. This program is truly a wonderful gesture to our veterans, though we can never thank them enough or ever repay them S.E.R.V.E. is definitely a great way to say thank you, and show our appreciation.