Indianapolis, Ind. — The 2013 Student Veterans of America (SVA) Leadership Institute began today, providing free leadership training to the nation's most exemplary student veteran leaders.
The event, created by SVA, brings together a select group of emerging leaders from student veterans’ organizations (SVOs) across the country, where they are receiving intensive, in-residence training. The curriculum, provided by the Military Family Research Institute (MFRI) at Purdue University, teaches practical concepts designed to strengthen SVOs.
SVOs are student organizations that offer support and guidance to student service members and veterans who are transitioning to the post-secondary, academic environment. SVOs engage in student support, transition assistance, awareness-raising, and participate in community collaborations and service projects in communities across the country.
Jamie Simek, project manager for MFRI's education and employment initiatives, said MFRI is proud of its partnership with SVA and its role in providing curriculum for the Leadership Institute series. The curriculum is based on the SVO manual, Success in 3D: How to Design, wwwelop and Deliver a Thriving SVO, which was co-authored by MFRI and SVA.
"SVOs are an invaluable resource to current and future student service members and veterans, as well as to their respective campuses," Simek said. "This training aims to provide them with the knowledge and support that they need to create and sustain thriving chapters."
The curriculum offers SVA leaders veteran-friendly practices, collected from select college campuses nationwide. Institute attendees will also get their first glimpse of a condensed second edition of Success in 3D, which will be released at the conference.
The new edition includes information that is most useful to student veteran leaders, but adds additional information to assist SVO leaders as they construct business plans to sustain their organizations. It also provides several different appendices, including a campus profile worksheet, needs assessment survey and communications plan outline, among others.
"We want to introduce and reinforce the concept of strategic chapter operations: define a mission, wwwelop smart objectives and lay out a plan for sustainability," Simek said. "This workshop not only introduces these concepts but also encourages students to implement them in ways that harmonize with their individual campus culture to meet the needs of their own student service member and veteran population."
Last year’s Leadership Institute took place on the campus of Google in Mountain View, Calif., where the technology giant provided resources, meeting space, programming and other logistical support for the event. This year, the Institute is being sponsored by Lumina Foundation, a leading non-profit organization committed to increasing the proportion of Americans who have high-quality, college-level learning. In 2012, the organization issued 70 grants totaling more than $30 million.
"SVA's chapter leaders are the engine that drives SVA," said SVA executive director Michael Dakduk. "This year's Leadership Institute will prove to build upon the already ample leadership and professional skills veterans offer their campuses and our nation's workforce.To say SVA is grateful for the support provided by Lumina and MFRI would certainly be an understatement."
In addition to workshops, attendees will be given a tour of the American Legion National Headquarters. They will also attend – and be honored at – the Aug. 2 Indianapolis Indians' baseball game. The Triple-A team's vice president and general manager, Cal Burleson, is on MFRI's external advisory board, and has arranged for a student veteran to throw out the game's first pitch.