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A special water balloon and water gun zone were set up at Bash and Splash for students to battle it out.\u00a0Photo by Irena Mesa\u00a0| The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Student Veterans Organization at USFSP held a \u201cBash and Splash\u201d event on April 23, where students could partake in water balloon battles, a dunk tank, and many other aquatic activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photo by Irena Mesa | The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
By Irena Mesa and Secilia Ruiz\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At its core, the Office of Veteran Success and the Student Veteran Organization at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg\u00a0operate\u00a0to\u00a0assist\u00a0veterans or anyone else who is connected to the military with whatever they may need.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the students and veterans who\u00a0work in or frequent\u00a0their office, it means much more than that.\u00a0Julian Guillermo, a veteran, student and team\u00a0leader\u00a0of the Student Veteran Organization, said that the experience has been a breath of fresh air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cComing fresh out of the military, trying to accommodate back to civilian life was\u00a0very difficult\u00a0for me. But now that\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0here, I get to be comfortable in trying to find myself again,\u201d Guillermo said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a fun journey.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For others, like Shaynee Zigan,\u00a0vice president of the Student Veterans Organization, the office helped her feel more connected to the military life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a dependent, and I grew up on a military base my whole life, so once my dad retired and we stepped into the normal world outside of the enclosed, safe base, it was a change, but then I got used to it and it felt like I was losing that military side because we weren\u2019t around it anymore,\u201d Zigan said. \u201cNow that I\u2019m back here, working in the Veteran\u2019s Office and I\u2019m a part of the Student Veterans Club, I feel like it has brought\u00a0me back and made me remember how it was when I was younger.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0According to Elena Mere, a senior business analytics and information systems major who is also both a student-worker at the Office of Veteran Success and the president of the Student Veteran Organization, having an office specifically for\u00a0veterans\u2019\u00a0aids in supporting community culture and identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of\u00a0very intelligent, talented veterans coming in, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important that they have a space to chill out, study, just do what they need to do\u2026 For some of these veterans coming in, they have families,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0older, so\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important that they have a space that specializes for their needs,\u201d Mere said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anabelle Mack, a\u00a0freshman\u00a0biology major and member of the social media and marketing team at the Veteran\u2019s Success Center, echoed a similar sentiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[A significant part of the Veteran\u2019s Success Center is] to be able to go out and help people who have family in the military or were a part of the military and help them get the benefits they need to succeed in their education,\u201d Mack said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zigan\u00a0told\u00a0The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0that their doors are open for anyone, not just veterans and families of the military.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople see us at events and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0like, \u2018Oh it\u2019s the military \u2013 the veteran\u2019s office,\u2019 and keep pushing.\u00a0We want people to know that\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0not scary,\u201d Zigan said. \u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0here,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0just like you\u00a0\u2013 and come hang out.\u00a0We\u2019re\u00a0here to help you in any way that you need.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Office of Veteran\u2019s Success at the St. Petersburg campus serves over 600 students. They offer therapy sessions in a partnership with the Wellness Center for veterans and student veterans, and a separate session for military dependents.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2027, the Office of Veteran Success will be\u00a0relocated\u00a0to a new facility\u00a0located\u00a0behind Pelican Apartments. The building will increase the services for students and veterans, as well as provide new ones such as labs dedicated to student-veteran research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mere said the Veteran\u2019s Success Center was due for an upgrade.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a space over in the terrace that had gotten messed up by the hurricane, and\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0had to\u00a0relocate\u00a0into a smaller suite. Dr. Diaz actually gave up his office for us, which is very kind, but I think the new building is just going to be a breath of fresh air for our veterans, and it\u2019s just going to make them feel at home in their studies,\u201d Mere said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019re in the Student\u00a0Life\u00a0Center, which has made us sort of hidden because our office is sort of stuck in the corner,\u201d Mack said, \u201cSo I hope that with this new building opening up, we\u2019ll be able to see a lot more people and get to help a lot more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A special water balloon and water gun zone were set up at Bash and Splash for students to battle it out.\u00a0
Photo by Irena Mesa\u00a0| The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Written by: Irena Mesa<\/a> on April 28, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Student Veterans Organization at USFSP held a \u201cBash and Splash\u201d event on April 23, where students could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-249970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}