Meet the “Gold” standard team behind Jackson College’s Veteran Services office
September 22, 2023
Randall Locke is Jackson College’s Veterans Resource Representative. A position he has proudly held over the last seven years.
The retired Marine officer is a veteran of the first Gulf War operation and served in a number of command billets all over the world. He, along with his colleague Liz Snell, knows what it takes to set up veterans for success.
“Those who are fresh out of service, it’s kind of a cultural shock out here,” Locke said. “We get students coming from all different walks of life, all different backgrounds. We need to ease them back into civilian life. We understand things a little bit better up here, what they’ve gone through, what they’re dealing with and we have so much in the way of resources and access to them. We want to make sure they’re taking care of things.”
Supporting Veterans’ transition
They consider the Veteran Services office a one-stop shop for the military-connected population.
“Literally, a student could walk in the door off the street and say, ‘hey, I want to go to college’ We can get the ball rolling,” Locke said. “We’ll sit them down at a computer and they can apply to Jackson College. We assist them with benefits if they’re using the GI Bill or federal tuition assistance. I do the advising for the military-connected crew. My counterpart next door, Liz, she does all the certifying for the GI Bill students.”
More than 60 higher education institutions were recognized by the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency as Veteran-Friendly. Jackson College joins the ranks of higher education institutions that are now Gold-status. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our Veteran Services office.
“We invest in our students,” Locke said. “I can get into all the fluffy stuff and say they are future but in reality they are.”
What is Gold-status?
What does it mean to have Gold status?
Universities, colleges and trade schools have to meet six or more of the following criteria.
Established process of identification of current student veterans
- Veteran specific website
- Active student veteran organization or club
- Veteran-specific career services, resources, advising and/or out coming monitoring
- On-campus veterans’ coordinator and/or designated staff point of contact
- System to evaluate and award academic credit based on prior military training and experience
- Monitoring and evaluation of student veteran academic retention, progress and graduation rates
“Jackson College has proven they are committed to supporting their student veteran population and I’m pleased to see them join the ranks of our Gold-level Veteran-Friendly Schools,” said Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency Education Analyst Joe Saur. “Their veteran services website provides useful and relevant resources that can help students in their academic journey and having a veteran student navigator right on campus is a huge service. I want to personally wish Jackson College’s student veteran population the best of luck this school year as they continue to pursue their academic goals.”
“Throughout my professional career I have always worked to support veterans and their families; as a member of a military family myself doing so has been important to me. The Gold status indicates a level of service that the Veterans Resource Center provides to all military-affiliated students that I am proud to be a part of and honored to recommend to others,” Snell said.
Contact the Veterans Services office
As Randall puts it though, it’s just another day at the office.
“We’re getting the job done,” he said.
The Veteran Services office is located on the second floor of Bert Walker Hall Room 235.
You can contact Randall Locke at LockeRandallW@jccmi.edu and (517) 990-1333
More information on Veteran Services click here.