For five years, UC Merced has offered veterans a unique opportunity to consider, dream of and plan for their lives beyond the military.
A free workshop held in Yosemite National Park, the Yosemite Veterans Education and Leadership Seminar presents veterans with an array of networking, career and educational opportunities, resources, assistance in accessing their military benefits and programs, and, best of all, a community of people who can be there for them long after the workshop is over.
This year, 13 participants met with 28 instructors – all veterans themselves – over four days.
“The instructors can share their stories about transitioning from military to civilian life and how the company or organization they represent might be a good fit for the participants because of their military service,” said organizer Karla Seijas, a graduate student at UC Merced. “The participants can have honest conversations and can ask questions because they feel more understood.”
Merced Sunrise Rotary, the Yosemite Conservancy and UC Merced’s Division of Equity, Justice, & Inclusive Excellence cover all the tuition for the workshop, as well as transportation from Merced to the park, lodging and food for the entirety of the seminar.
Instructors come from all over the state to work with the participants and represent such groups as the California Department of Veterans Affairs, the California Highway Patrol, Cal Fire, the Work for Warriors Program, the National Parks Conservation Association – Veterans Program, California State universities, and Fresno County Veteran Services, among others.
The participants learn how to access their GI bill benefits, home mortgage benefits, educational opportunities, job retraining programs, and even how to access such resources as health and counseling services.
“I wanted to attend this seminar to help broaden my local network of veteran resources,” said Jesse Purves, an Army veteran who served as a designated marksman and was trained in intelligence. He left active duty in 2010 and completed his time in the Reserves in 2012 and now manages a bike shop in Visalia. “I am constantly in need of resources for myself but even more, I am looking for ways to learn and then share those resources with my fellow vets.”
He said he had a great time at this year's seminar and would highly recommend it to any fellow veteran.
“Networking with different organizations that are close to home and having benefits explained much better than they had been when I was actually getting out of the military was one of the best parts of this seminar,” he said. “For me personally, the conversations about health and disability benefits were the most beneficial. The VA makes every step of accessing what we have earned very difficult, so learning tricks or best practices by others who have been successful is amazing.”
The workshop is also an opportunity for people to get away from their daily lives for a few days and spend time in nature in one of the most beautiful settings in the world. They get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the Ansel Adams Gallery, led by Ansel Adams’ son, Dr. Michael Adams, a retired major general who served in the California Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force.
They take a walk among the giant sequoias and visit Yosemite Valley, NatureBridge National Environmental Science Center, Henness Ridge and the Crane Flat Heli-base. They are also taken to various spots throughout the park for demonstrations by the National Park Service and partnering organizations to get a greater understanding of how their own military service might work to their benefit in getting jobs such as firefighting, search and rescue, paramedic services, park ranger and many other careers.
Organizer Steve Shackleton, formerly Yosemite National Park’s head ranger, said he and Seijas are trying to figure out how to clone the program and share it with universities across the country that have relationships with national parks, so more veterans can get the assistance they need.
But they want to keep the number of attendees at each seminar about where it was this year.
“We like the intimacy between the instructors and the attendees. We create a community of alumni who can stay in contact with each other and help each other, while also having access to the instructors,” Shackleton said. “We all agree to be at the participants’ disposal after the seminar wraps up, so they can reach out to any of us for answers, resources or support.”
Seijas said one of the best parts of the seminar is watching the relationships that form between participants.
“They come as strangers and start out a little reserved, but by the second day they have already established friendships and the fun banter has started,” she said. “By the end of the seminar when it's time to say goodbye and head home, they are hugging, some even cry when they say goodbye to each other because they've established instant friendships. This seminar is sometimes the first time participants have been with a group of veterans since they separated from the military.
“There is an instant connection and unspoken bond they have, because they have all served. They feel like they can be themselves, be vulnerable and get advice from each other. It's beautiful to witness.”
