Akron Magazine - Winter 2010 - (Page 11)

The ROTC office on campus has been fully supportive of the goals of the committee, said Lt. Col. Christopher Corbett, ROTC unit commander. “We have a number of veterans in our ranks, in the cadre and among instructors and cadets,” Corbett says. “We are able to inform the steering committee of challenges veterans are going through when they return from service.” Corey, who works closely with the ROTC office, sees her duties as putting the steering committee’s goals into action. In her first semester on campus, Corey has conducted brown-bag presentations for faculty on student-veteran issues and established the Military Veterans Association. The veterans association has 107 members and a temporary space for veterans – a modest one-room lounge in the basement of the Student Union. The Student Union “R&R Lounge” has several computers, desk space, a mini-refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker and a wall clock. But it is a home on campus to student-veterans. A more permanent space has been identified within InfoCision Stadium. University fundraising is proceeding to complete the new meeting place, with relocation planned for fall semester 2010. “One thing veterans often miss is the camaraderie of the unit,” says Maj. Lindsey E. Smitley, assistant professor of military science. “They miss the teamwork and the sense of belonging. Now they have a gathering place.” Corey also sees the association as a haven for veterans. “The Student Union is a good, central location, but it is noisy,” she observes. “That can be disturbing for some veterans who are just back from the Middle East.” Programming already has begun through the association for veterans and their families, in cooperation with other student and University groups. Student Life provided funding for a “family game night.” The association, at no cost to student-veterans, is hosting other events throughout the year. continued on page 12 WOUNdEd VET EARNs UA dEgREE < Clements receives the National Association of Social Workers Ohio Student of the Year Award Fortunately, that is only the beginning of Clements’ story. She was able to work through pain during rehabilitation and to retrain her brain and body to work together. By spring semester of 2006, she had used her veteran’s benefits to enroll at UA, which was close to her home and accepted transfer credits from Stark State. “And the University had a good Social Work program,” Clements says. You don’t have to be connected to The University of Akron to take inspiration from one veteran excelling at the Akron campus. Jessica Clements, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Work in December 2009, has received national media attention for her remarkable story of survival and recovery from serious wounds suffered in action in Iraq. In May 2004 Clements, 33, of Canton, was a staff sergeant on active duty in Bagdad with the 706th Transportation Co., an Army Reserve unit out of Mansfield. She was on the hazardous run to the Baghdad Airport. “I was riding in the back of a five-ton truck. We rounded a corner and an explosive device detonated,” Clements said. The device was on the backside of a guardrail, out of sight of the driver. There were nine soldiers and one civilian in the truck. Clements was the only one wounded. “I had shrapnel to my head, back and hip,” she says. “The head wounds were the most serious.” The right side of her brain suffered devastating injury. Clements was operated on in Baghdad, and then sent to a military hospital in Germany, still in a coma. She woke up two weeks later in Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington, D.C. Why social work? “When I was going through Walter Reed, the social workers there really helped me a lot,” she said. “that motivated me to be a social worker. I want to work with soldiers and veterans.” Linda McArdle, Clements’ adviser in UA’s School of Social Work, appreciates her motivation. “When Jessica talks about her experience as a veteran, she mentions the kindness of others during a tough time of her life,” she says. McArdle said that the National Association of Social Workers chose Clements for the NASW Student of the Year Award – at both the local and state level. Clements’ rehabilitation continued during her years at UA. “The injuries affected my short-term memory,” she states. “At first, I could only take one class at a time. I took a tape recorder so I could listen to the lecture over and over. I had to read each chapter of the lesson four or five times before it stuck.” Clements arrived at UA before the veterans association and similar support was available, but she agrees that such veterans’ services are necessary. Now veterans, and the rest of us, can take heart from the experiences of Jessica Clements and the hard work that gave her a second chance at life. “I’ve been lucky,” she says. “I take nothing for granted anymore.” | 11 | A MAgAzine for AluMni & friends of The universiT y of Akron

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Akron Magazine - Winter 2010

Akron Magazine - Winter 2010