Serving Those Who Served: New Veterans Center Opening at Tri-C’s Western Campus

Celebration planned for May 26 in conjunction with Memorial Day observance

Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) will celebrate the opening of its Crile Veterans Center and Archives with a Memorial Day commemoration honoring those who served this nation.

Events begin at 10 a.m. Friday, May 26 — the first day of service for the new veterans center at Western Campus in Parma. The College began working on the center last year to better meet the needs of veterans.

“Cuyahoga Community College is dedicated to serving those who served this nation,” Tri-C President Alex Johnson said. “The addition of the Crile Veterans Center and Archives builds on our commitment to military families across Northeast Ohio.”

The new center will offer a full array of support services to help veterans reach educational and career goals as they transition from soldiers to civilians and become contributors to the economic vitality of Northeast Ohio.

The space will include an area for academic advising and counseling; computer access to enable veterans to participate in online courses and services; meeting space; and a resource area providing information on veteran programs.

The Kisco Foundation awarded Tri-C $80,000 to help establish the Crile Veterans Center. The gift followed the College receiving the foundation’s Kohlberg Prize, given annually to increase support for veterans attending community colleges.

The College renovated a Western Campus computer study lab to create the new center, located in room G111-F.

“The new center will enable us to expand frontline services and support to the hundreds of veterans that call Western Campus home,” said Rick DeChant, executive director of Tri-C’s Veterans Initiative. “It also continues the College’s legacy in helping veterans learn to heal and heal to learn.”

Approximately 90,000 veterans live in Cuyahoga County. With the new center, the Tri-C Veterans Initiative estimates the number of veterans and their families it serves will surpass 10,000.

The College also aims to increase veteran enrollment from 750 to 900 within the next two years. Veterans consistently rank among the highest-achieving students at Tri-C.

Tri-C’s Veterans Initiative opens its doors to all veterans and their families, regardless of whether they are students at the College. The goal is for Tri-C to become a home base and beacon of hope for Northeast Ohio’s military community.

The new center at Western Campus sits adjacent to the Crile Archives, which preserves and presents artifacts that document the experiences of veterans on the battlefield and at home. The archives focus on the health and healing of veterans returning to civilian life.

The Parma campus sits on the site of the former Crile Military Hospital, which opened during World War II as a temporary wartime hospital. It remained an active military site for more than two decades.

A Veterans Memorial Garden on campus serves as the site for an annual Memorial Day observance, which this year will include the unveiling of the new center.

Events commemorating the center’s opening and Memorial Day include:
• 10-11 a.m.: Western Campus Auditorium
Screening of two videos Tri-C helped create to tell the stories of veterans and their journeys home after wartime duty.
• 11 a.m.-noon: Crile Veterans Center and Archives
Tours of the new center.
• Noon-12:30 p.m.: Veterans Memorial Garden
Tri-C’s James Banks, director of the Crile Archives, will reflect on the nation’s entry into World War I a century ago and national recording artist Dominick Farinacci — a former Tri-C student — will play the National Anthem, Battle Hymn of the Republic and Taps. Audience members will participate in a ceremonial “Planting of the Poppies.”
• 12:30-1:30 p.m.: Cafeteria Patio
A community Memorial Day picnic.

The events are free and open to the public. Western Campus is located at 11000 Pleasant Valley Road in Parma. For more information, call 216-987-3193.

May 19, 2017

John Horton, 216-987-4281 john.horton@tri-c.edu