Student veteran photovoice project: Capturing, enhancing, and increasing student veteran visibility and engagement on campus
Campus-wide data indicate that student veterans are less engaged in the campus community than their non-veteran student peers. This is troubling because the literature indicates that campus engagement is correlated with student success. This participatory action research project works with student veterans to examine if engagement rates are lower, or if student veterans have high engagement rates on the campus, but their engagement happens in ways that are not captured in the typical questions asked on most college campuses. Having a better understanding of what student veteran campus engagement looks like opens up a broader community dialogue around engagement. Moreover, the student veteran population on the UC Santa Cruz campus is relatively small. This can lead to low visibility and the employment of stereotypes about veterans. Creating spaces for student veterans to tell stories that show their multiple identities and “complex personhood” can help others on campus have a more complete picture of student veterans, which will help reduce stereotypes.
Daisy
Jasmine – “Destination”
Matt – “Matt’s Story”