Seven award-winning student veterans' organizations (SVOs) have been selected to compete in Operation Diploma's SVO Hall of Fame Competition, which is aimed at showcasing the talents and achievements of the best of Indiana's award-winning SVOs.
On Sat., Oct. 27, invited SVOs will present their achievements to a panel of expert judges before a live audience at the NCAA Hall of Champions in downtown Indianapolis. The event is the culmination of previously-held grant competitions sponsored by Operation Diploma, MFRI's post-secondary education initiative.
Since September 2009, Operation Diploma has each semester sponsored the Operation Diploma Student Veterans' Organization (SVO) Organizational Plan Competition, which aimed to help SVO members hone entrepreneurial skills and fund local initiatives through grants of up to $2,000. Judges evaluated SVO presentations based on criteria that included quality of mission, clarity of initiatives and a commitment to sustainability based on their presentations. Grants totaling nearly $50,000 have been awarded through these competitions.
SVO Hall of Fame competitors were chosen from the highly-ranked participants in those events.The following institutions have been selected:
- Ball State University;
- Indiana University Southeast;
- Ivy Tech Bloomington;
- Ivy Tech Sellersburg;
- Ivy Tech Wabash Valley;
- Purdue University; and
- The University of Evansville.
"The SVO Hall of Fame Competition represents some of Indiana’s most inspiring student leaders,” said Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, director of MFRI. “Their efforts impact Indiana campuses, where they are working to ease the transitions of student service members’ and veterans’ from military service to post-secondary education. I expect these men and women to continue making a difference in our communities long after they have achieved their educational goals.”
Through their participation in the SVO Hall of Fame Competition, SVO leaders will have the opportunity to showcase their achievements, lessons learned and promising practices to the judging panel, as well as to an audience of their peers, mentors and supporters. This will mark the first time that the competition will be open to the public. In addition to competing for up to $2,000 for their SVO programs, these student veterans as also competing for bragging rights, as the judges will name the top three Hall of Fame participants at the end of the competition.