Veterans attending Georgia Perimeter College are getting increased support, thanks to a new class designed especially for them.

Beth Wallace, a Dunwoody Campus assistant professor and veteran herself, says the Living the Military Experience course has a number of practical and intrinsic benefits, such as giving students a chance to bond with others like themselves. “This can, hopefully, carry over into other semesters and give them the advantage of having a network of support for student success,” Wallace says.

The new class is one of a number of the college’s GPC First Year Experience courses that give students an orientation to college life.

Veteran students will engage in topics such as learning styles and money management, as well as the development of critical thinking, writing and academic research skills. Another class topic is time management, which Wallace says can be particularly challenging after coming out of an environment with a great deal of structure.

“Depending on their rank, many former military [personnel] are self-starters, but not all are,” she says. “However, because they have taken that step to begin or finish their education, this puts them ahead of the game already.”

Mark Eister, director of Military Outreach at Georgia Perimeter, is optimistic the class will serve as a huge help for students—and their families, noting that it’s open not only to veterans but also their relatives. “Take for instance, the daughter of someone who served in Afghanistan—some of those kids are carrying the same experiences and challenges as the military members themselves,” Eister explains.

In addition, Living the Military Experience will include a number of guest lecturers and workshops, such as one focused on resume writing. “They need to be able to transfer those skills acquired in the military into civilian terms,” Wallace says.

As for her own experience, Wallace served in the U.S. Marines Corps and rose to the sergeant rank, before using her VA benefits to attend college, first at Georgia Perimeter and then Georgia State University. She says she’ll rely heavily on a “been there/done that” approach when teaching sessions.

In addition to Wallace’s class at Dunwoody Campus, the course will be offered at Clarkston Campus, with Art Chapman, also a veteran, instructing. 

Along with Living the Military Experience, various other freshman orientation classes are being offered this fall, including The Power of the Individual, Finding Your Place (using social media), Problem Solving through Behavioral Economics, Navigating a Digital World and The Global Landscape.

For more information, contact Maryann Errico, interim director of the First Year Experience: merrico@gpc.edu or 770-274-5494. Fall registration runs until Aug. 15.