Seven Straight: Moraine Park celebrates another military honor

There’s repeats and “three-peats.”

But what do you call seven-in-a-row of something?

Show of hands? … Anyone?

Perhaps a “heptad” – a group or series of seven items (or how about other equally poetic suggestions – we’re looking at you “septet” and “hebdomad”)?

But for simplicity sake, how about we just call our recent seventh-in-a-row honor very special – because it is!?

For the seventh consecutive year, Moraine Park Technical College is pleased to have made Victory Media’s list of Military Friendly Schools for its commitment in serving veterans as students.

Institutions earning the 2017 Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from Victory Media’s proprietary survey.

More than 1,700 schools participated.

“I’m so proud of our staff and students for their collective commitment in making our College a special place for military students and student veterans. Our consistent designation as a Military Friendly School affirms this commitment, and we look forward to further serving our student veterans and military members in the future.” said Scott Lieburn, Moraine Park’s dean of students.

This prestigious award recognizes the top colleges, universities and trade schools nationwide who embrace America’s veterans as students.

And think this is lucky No. 7 for us?

Well, it’s awesome, but we wouldn’t classify it as luck, that’s for sure! There is always a ton of ongoing work and dedication involved to get this recognition.

Moraine Park has numerous resources available to military and veteran students, including the Student Veterans Association (SVA) club. The SVA meets regularly to provide information about educational opportunities offered at Moraine Park and to make updates to veterans benefits. The club allows students to meet with other military students and veterans as well as their supporters. This provides a support system to help veteran and military members ask questions and smoothly transition from military life to college and careers.

Schools on the list range from state universities and private colleges, to community and technical colleges and trade schools. The common bond is their shared priority of recruiting and retaining students with military experience.

Schools on the Military Friendly Schools list also offer additional benefits to student veterans such as on-campus veterans programs, credit for service and military spouse programs.

Criteria for making the Military Friendly Schools list included efforts to recruit and retain military and veteran students, results in recruiting military and veteran students, and academic accreditations. The complete list can be viewed by visiting militaryfriendly.com.

The “Military Friendly” distinction also comes at a special time for Moraine Park, which proclaimed its 2016-17 academic year its “Year of the Student Veteran.” The College has hosted several events on all of its campuses this fall to honor veteran and military students, and has additional events planned for the spring semester.

This year, Moraine Park also earned national ranking in Military Times’s Best for Vets: Career & Technical Colleges 2017 list. That list was released in November, and was comprised of 24 career and technical colleges who display a commitment to educating and providing opportunities to America’s veterans. It was the second consecutive year Moraine Park finished in the Top 10 of “Best for Vets,” with the College placing 8th on this year’s list – up from a 9th-place ranking last year.

Moraine Park faculty and staff recently gathered to celebrate these honors, and to recognize a number of individuals responsible for helping the college obtain these distinctions.

The event started with a thank you from Student Veteran Specialist, Steve Pepper who explained why it was necessary to take the time to recognize everyone who contributed to these new rankings. Pepper also stressed the importance it plays in the overall success of the college’s veteran students and their overall completion rate.

Lieburn then provided firsthand accounts of specific achievements or instances each of the college’s members in attendance Monday contributed, helping make Moraine Park a better college for our veteran students.

After a brief history of the military challenge coin, its significance of receiving it, Lieburn, presented coins to Bonnie Baerwald President of Moraine Park Technical College, Stan Cram Vice President of Student Affairs, Sue Weiss Moraine Park Grant Specialist and Stephanie Lueck Financial Aid Specialist.

For more information about Moraine Park’s Veterans Services, visit morainepark.edu/veterans.