Green Zone Training: Support for our military-affiliated students
by Kristal Kinloch-Taylor
Looking for ways to support military students? Attend Green Zone Training offered by the Military Connection Center. Green Zone Training provides faculty, staff, and students with an understanding of the military experience to help develop a supportive campus community for veterans, current service members and their families. Established at Virginia Commonwealth University, Green Zone trainings are offered by numerous campuses across the country.
Trainings prepare faculty and staff with effective ways to support military students. ODU launched Green Zone in 2020. More than 100 staff and faculty members have completed trainings offered online and in-person. After successful completion of training, attendees receive a Green Zone icon to proudly display in their spaces.
Ms. Krista Brant, the Military Connection Center program outreach coordinator, serves as the Green Zone facilitator. Brant believes "Green Zone training is important because it gives the Monarch Community a better understanding of the challenges and barriers our military-affiliated population experience daily, not just with school, but with everyday life. With that understanding comes empathy, and with empathy comes care, and when we care about our students, they can thrive."
As a Navy veteran and military spouse, Ms. Krista Brant is familiar with the many challenges the transition from military to academia presents. Brant's ODU journey started in 2017. Unsure of her academic plans, Ms. Krista Brant partnered with a Success Coach with ODU's Center for Major Exploration. After successfully completing her undergraduate degree in 2021 Ms. Brant continues to help other student veterans navigate the college process.
Twenty-five percent of the ODU student population identifies as military-affiliated, and Green Zone supports the success of those that served. Green Zone "training is roughly four hours of information, stories, engagement, resources, and answers regarding how to best support our military-affiliated students, and to provide them a "safe zone" where they can feel comfortable being themselves. In times of combat, a Green Zone was an area (typically in enemy territory) where no combat occurred and therefore provided a safe area for those that needed it, says Ms. Brant."
Located in Monarch Hall, ODU's Military Connection Center (MCC) is committed to assisting veterans, active-duty service members, reservists, guard members, and dependents. The MCC team helps newly admitted students navigate the GI Bill and admissions process. The Military Connection Center hosts several events throughout the semester to prepare military students for academic and professional success.
For more information about Green Zone and other MCC events, visit the Military Connection Center website.
