University of California Irvine Parent Guide
A Veteran's Message
David Curry, a U.S. Marine with two tours of duty in Iraq behind him, knows what it's like to be recruited to a cause and see it through with pride. Now the 28-year-old UC Irvine sociology/economics major has turned recruiter - not for the military but for veterans' education.
With impetus from the Post-9/11 GI Bill that took effect in August and outreach efforts by UCI's Veterans Student Union, Curry expects the campus's student-veteran population to mushroom to 400 from the current 60 by fall 2014. Already, UCI is beating projections with a 33 percent increase in student veterans this fall over 2008.
"We want to target those who have served the country and now, with higher education, can become part of the fabric of the future and continue to serve," says Curry, vice president of VSU. "Through education, we want to see veterans better represented in national and state legislatures, in making policy - having a larger stake in our country's future. In turn, they will bring a diversity of experience to the campus."
Curry emceed UCI's first veterans appreciation ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 10, set against half-staff flags honoring Fort Hood casualties. Ivan Waggoner, a VSU member and Army Reserve sergeant who served in Iraq from May 2005 to June 2006, spoke about what it means to be a veteran.
