Veterans Upward Bound: How ASU serves those who serve us

It is tireless work to serve an entire country, and there are many veteran and active duty members of the military who can confirm. It requires commitment, sacrifice and a whole lot of training. With that time and energy spent serving others, it begs the question of who will serve these veterans when they complete their service? 

Kevin Brown, the Program Director for Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) ASU, said he was “lost” when found himself at this junction. 

“I was just really trying to look towards, you know, how to get back into school. What else is out there? I kept going, ‘All right, how many times am I going to do this military school, civilian job, bouncing back and forth?’” Brown said. 

Struggling to find the balance between school, work and life after service, Brown knew something had to change.

“I mean, the list goes on and on with where my schooling was slacking or falling behind, where I was falling behind because of my job or my other duties instead of just focusing on school,” said Brown.

“I was taking a course at Yavapai and found their (VUB) little sticky note, a little pull tab.”

Brown found VUB by circumstance, something he wished he had come across much earlier. 

VUB is a free, grant-funded, federal program under the TRIO umbrella, dedicated to providing veterans qualifying as first-generation college students, low-income or having a documented disability with support for achieving their academic dreams.  

“Somehow, some way, some form, the active duty military member needs to know that this program exists before we get out,” Brown said. “I left active duty in 09’, I didn't find out about Veterans Upward Bound until 2013.” 

“TRIO Veterans Upward Bound has been around since 1972, we are completely free to the veterans. We don't charge anything of their Chapter 31 or Chapter 33,” Brown said. 

“We're free and our years are there.” 

Beyond its reputation as a well-established and free-to-use program for veterans, Brown spoke to other reasons this program is impactful, by specifically touching on his experience as a veteran in education. 

“I think veterans are a little different,” Brown explained. “I know we are, but anyone really, our pride or ego can take a toll on us. When you walk into a tutoring center, it's almost as if you’re saying, ‘I can't do this.’” 

“I needed to be willing,” Brown continued. “I was still sitting in the tutoring center, but every time somebody would come ask, ‘Hey, can we help you? You have your sign up?’ I’d say ‘No, I'm good.’”

It was hard for Brown to open up to help, and he felt that the approach many of the tutors took didn’t quite meet veterans where they needed to be met.

“When you get back in that classroom, you're older. And depending on what you did in the military, it can be rough sitting in a closed room with young students moving around,” Brown explained.

However, the same military experience that had first been an obstacle, became his lifeline in the right community. 

“It was finding someone that walked the walk, the Veteran walk, the Veteran talk,” Brown said. “His name was Frank. He retired through TRIO. He was an Air Force retiree, just a great man. He also knew how to address us as Veterans. We weren't just students. We were Veterans.” 

Brown explained how the support from VUB was not only helpful, but essential in giving him the push he needed. 

“Their tenacity of not giving up on me when I would hang up the phone on them and tell them to, ‘stop calling me’. Just saying, ‘Hey, we're here for you. Whenever you're ready, we got another backpack. We got these school supplies for you,’” Brown said.

“That and just the way they were so welcoming when you walk in the building,” Brown continued. “‘Oh, where were you at? Or who are you with?’ It's just that brotherhood, that sisterhood, that veteranhood. It's automatic when we hear, ‘Oh, I'm a vet.’”

Much more than just the academic opportunities, VUB provides a space for veterans to feel at home in an academic environment, without wholly replacing the sense of community they have come to appreciate. 

“It was another Marine that came up, Saul, and we're still friends today,” Brown recounted. 

“Saul was like, ‘Hey, Devil Dog.’ I was like, ‘You a Marine?’ He better be a Marine saying that. And he's like, ‘Well, absolutely. I've seen you here for a couple of weeks.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, you struggling with math?’ He's like, ‘No, I work here. I'm a tutor.’ So he's like, ‘He needs help with math.’ And yeah, that's history.”

What was his history, became his future. From a member to the program director, Kevin Brown now leads the way in expanding VUB and helping more veterans get started on their academic goals. 

“Everyone's different in their journey. Some can go straight into the four-year institution, but some of our vets stay around for a good minute, because life happens,” Brown explained.

“This needs to be shared with active duty military personnel who are on their way out. If they know about this, free tutoring, and the transition into classrooms, why wouldn't you want that benefit? Now you can save more of your GI Bill for a higher degree, per se. The choice is yours.”

Visit here to learn more about TRIO Veterans Upward Bound.