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JAMESTOWN, NY – Joseph Bergman couldn’t have expected to be back at SUNY Jamestown Community College this semester to start on an associate’s degree in business administration.
Taking on blue-collar work was what he knew. His father was a carpenter. He himself gravitated to the military after high school and to education in welding after that, earning an associate’s degree from JCC in 2017.
But here he is, positioned in the Jamestown Campus Veterans Student Lounge each day, a uniquely qualified guide for fellow veterans navigating their own college experience. As a veteran student worker, his primary role is to help classmates understand and take advantage of the benefits and resources to which they are entitled.
“I love it. I really do,” Bergman said. “It’s good to be here and be hands-on and help other veterans find benefits and programs. When I was here, I didn’t know a lot about this stuff. These are things I’ve learned over the years. Now that I’m catching students younger than me and older than me, I’m hooking them up with what I’ve learned over the years.”
Bergman is here because cancer devastated his body and ravaged his career path. Thanks to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Veteran Readiness and Employment program, he has a chance to redefine his future.
The VA helps Bergman with school and housing costs. They also pay for his student-worker job at JCC, the first of its kind according to Don Pool, the college’s accessibility services coordinator.
“The VA is supporting me going back to college so I can get back to work,” said Bergman, who plans to continue his education at St. Bonaventure University in fall 2023 after finishing up at JCC.
“Now it feels like I’m taking myself out of the blue-collar world because physically I won’t be able to hold out another 50 years,” he added. “I really have to give my body a rest.”
The 2011 Jamestown High School graduate was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment from 2011 to 2014. After release from the U.S. Army, he started at JCC in 2015 on the GI Bill® and graduated two years later.
Bergman went on to work for Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast until a years-long battle with cancer collapsed his hips and cost him his job in fall 2021.
While Bergman anticipates his surgeon will report a clean bill of health in May, he is savoring being back in school, as well as the responsibilities of his new role.
When he’s not in class, Bergman spends most of his free time on campus in the Student Veterans Lounge. He meets veteran students in person and reaches out to others through phone calls and emails. He is likewise a resource for veterans at JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus in Olean, N.Y., and North County Center in Dunkirk, N.Y.
“Sometimes,” Pool said, “it’s much easier for a student to approach another student than it is faculty or staff.”
As a veteran student, Bergman feels supported at JCC.
“That’s part of what gives me purpose in this position,” he said. “I have good support because I know where to go and know who to talk to. I’m not very shy. I’m OK with asking those awkward questions or asking someone who has no idea and being pointed in another direction.”
JCC has repeatedly been named a Military Friendly School® and recently earned that designation for 2022-23. Institutions receiving the designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,800 schools participated in the 2022-2023 survey with 665 earning special awards for going above the standard.
JCC has a dedicated Military Members Support Committee that helps veteran students receive education benefits and advocates for their institutional needs. As part of that process, each veteran or military-aligned student registered at JCC has received multiple emails from Bergman.
Pool said Bergman’s role will continue to grow.
“In the future, we will have him reach out and support military-aligned and veteran students who have disabilities and struggle in the classroom because of that,” Pool said. “He’ll be able to reach out and provide support there and avenues of where to go for that support or anything that comes up academically.”
Pool said JCC currently has 32 students who are veterans or military-aligned dependents of veterans. They receive tuition and housing assistance through the GI Bill® or the Chapter 31 Veteran Readiness and Employment program. Prior to the pandemic, there were 80 such students attending JCC.
“The numbers are down because of the pandemic and remote learning,” Pool said. “Veteran students don’t do as well with that mode of learning. We expect it to make a rebound hopefully in the fall.”
In addition to VA funding, veteran students at JCC have access to dedicated campus student lounges and scholarship opportunities. They also can register for classes a week ahead of the general student population.
Then, there is support from Bergman, who hopes to continue his role during the spring and fall semesters until he graduates from JCC. He, for one, encourages veterans to take advantage of going to college.
“As a whole, I love it here. I really do,” he said. “I wish more veterans could have experiences like I do.”
