Posted 2:32 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014
Michael Bahr walked the stage at UW-L’s Winter Commencement Ceremony with 16 other student veterans at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, at the La Crosse Center. Learn how he and other veterans were recognized.
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Sgt. Michael Bahr, a combat engineer in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, graduated from UW-L with a degree in political science Dec. 14.[/caption]
When veteran Michael Bahr stepped off the plane from Iraq in January 2010, he knew his life goals had changed.
“I did a lot of growing up in the military,” he admits. “I realized I didn’t want to settle. I wanted to be more ambitious and try to achieve greater things in life.”
Greater things for Bahr meant earning a four-year degree and finding a career he cared about. Today Bahr is well on that path.
Bahr walked the stage at UW-L’s Winter Commencement Ceremony with 16 other student veterans at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, at the La Crosse Center, 300 Harborview Plaza, La Crosse. Graduating veterans will all be visible, wearing new stoles to honor them. The stoles are dark blue with white stars that say, “Valor & Respect. United States Veteran.”
“I think it’s important to remember that transitioning from the military to higher education is pretty difficult,” says Nicole Jablonski, UW-L’s veteran education benefit coordinator. “This is a great way to recognize that accomplishment and their service.”
Bahr says adapting to the less-structured college environment after he came back from conducting detainee operations in Taji, Iraq, was a challenge. While the decisions he made as a student on a day-to-day basis weren’t as high stakes as in the military, he had many new daily responsibilities to think about. Interacting with classmates was also, at times, a challenge.
“You can’t always relate to students on campus because you’ve had different experiences,” he says.
But Bahr met mentors in college who helped with the transition and gave him a glimpse of what his future could be. With help from Ray Block, associate professor of Political Science, he launched a study on “military friendly” schools in the UW System to help veterans understand the label that many campuses use. Overall, Bahr found that campuses met the criteria to be called military friendly; however, there is still room for improvement. Only a few schools provided some kind of training for faculty and staff about veterans and none of the schools made such training mandatory. Although the veteran population at UW-L is small — about 350 students — it’s a growing population that needs to be recognized, says Bahr.
“While we promote being military-friendly campuses, we need to make sure we are doing the little things to earn that title,” he says.
The new stoles are one new way UW-L is reaching out and recognizing veterans. So is the research Bahr participated in this fall. He was part of a pilot program that matches student veterans with faculty mentors to do undergraduate research. An intended side effect of the experience and faculty mentorship is a smoother transition back to school, says Scott Cooper, UW-L’s director of Undergraduate Research & Creativity.
As part of the Veterans Services office on campus, Bahr has played a large role in making the transition back to school easier for other veterans. He helped lead a new initiative to connect with incoming veterans students, offering them campus tours and other guidance.
“He’s done a lot to make new students on campus more comfortable,” says Jablonski. “He is incredibility dedicated to his work and all of his interactions with veterans.”
Bahr says his work with Jablonski in the Veterans Services office helped him learn of his interest in promoting veteran success and knowledge about their benefits. He aims to find a career working with veterans or at-risk youth.
Sgt. Michael Bahr, a combat engineer in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, graduated from UW-L with a degree in political science Dec. 14.[/caption]
When veteran Michael Bahr stepped off the plane from Iraq in January 2010, he knew his life goals had changed.
“I did a lot of growing up in the military,” he admits. “I realized I didn’t want to settle. I wanted to be more ambitious and try to achieve greater things in life.”
Greater things for Bahr meant earning a four-year degree and finding a career he cared about. Today Bahr is well on that path.
Bahr walked the stage at UW-L’s Winter Commencement Ceremony with 16 other student veterans at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, at the La Crosse Center, 300 Harborview Plaza, La Crosse. Graduating veterans will all be visible, wearing new stoles to honor them. The stoles are dark blue with white stars that say, “Valor & Respect. United States Veteran.”
“I think it’s important to remember that transitioning from the military to higher education is pretty difficult,” says Nicole Jablonski, UW-L’s veteran education benefit coordinator. “This is a great way to recognize that accomplishment and their service.”
Bahr says adapting to the less-structured college environment after he came back from conducting detainee operations in Taji, Iraq, was a challenge. While the decisions he made as a student on a day-to-day basis weren’t as high stakes as in the military, he had many new daily responsibilities to think about. Interacting with classmates was also, at times, a challenge.
“You can’t always relate to students on campus because you’ve had different experiences,” he says.
But Bahr met mentors in college who helped with the transition and gave him a glimpse of what his future could be. With help from Ray Block, associate professor of Political Science, he launched a study on “military friendly” schools in the UW System to help veterans understand the label that many campuses use. Overall, Bahr found that campuses met the criteria to be called military friendly; however, there is still room for improvement. Only a few schools provided some kind of training for faculty and staff about veterans and none of the schools made such training mandatory. Although the veteran population at UW-L is small — about 350 students — it’s a growing population that needs to be recognized, says Bahr.
“While we promote being military-friendly campuses, we need to make sure we are doing the little things to earn that title,” he says.
The new stoles are one new way UW-L is reaching out and recognizing veterans. So is the research Bahr participated in this fall. He was part of a pilot program that matches student veterans with faculty mentors to do undergraduate research. An intended side effect of the experience and faculty mentorship is a smoother transition back to school, says Scott Cooper, UW-L’s director of Undergraduate Research & Creativity.
As part of the Veterans Services office on campus, Bahr has played a large role in making the transition back to school easier for other veterans. He helped lead a new initiative to connect with incoming veterans students, offering them campus tours and other guidance.
“He’s done a lot to make new students on campus more comfortable,” says Jablonski. “He is incredibility dedicated to his work and all of his interactions with veterans.”
Bahr says his work with Jablonski in the Veterans Services office helped him learn of his interest in promoting veteran success and knowledge about their benefits. He aims to find a career working with veterans or at-risk youth.