The ETSU Office of Veterans Affairs received a Minuteman award from representatives of the Tennessee National Guard on Monday at the Military-Affiliated Resource Center in Yoakley Hall.
National Guard representatives presented ETSU with a signed letter of intent and the Minuteman award for their involvement and partnership with the Tennessee Support, Training and Renewing Opportunity for National Guardsmen Act. The letter of intent is an agreement between ETSU and the National Guard regarding their participation in the Tennessee STRONG act.
The STRONG act is a program that allows Tennessee Army National Guard soldiers to have free education at the universities in the state of Tennessee. According to Tennessee National Guard Staff Sergeant Joseph Baydoun, schools presented with the Minuteman award, like ETSU, are the schools that have agreed to defer for their soldiers.
“What that means is that the soldiers do not have to put down any money for this university, and on the back end, if they have successfully completed all their classes with a 2.0 or better and are in good standing, then they will not have to pay for their college tuition whatsoever,” Baydoun said.
After the award was presented, President Noland said that 21 ETSU students are utilizing the STRONG act this semester.
For ETSU Senior Kayla Csanady, the STRONG act is the reason she came back to school.
“I actually had to drop out of school years ago because I couldn’t afford to go to school, and even after joining the guard, tuition assistance was not always available to us,” Csanady said. “So, it’s fulfilled a dream that I’ve always had. I’ve always wanted to go to school, and this finally made it happen. Once they made tuition free, there was no excuse not to go.”
Tennessee National Guard Recruiting and Retention noncommissioned officer Sergeant Joshua Hazlett also utilized the program during his time at ETSU.
“The STRONG act came across about three years ago, and I was like, ‘This is phenomenal,’ because now I can finish my entire degree and come out debt-free,” Hazlett said.
Hazlett used the program while pursuing his marketing degree at ETSU. He graduated last year, and he now works as a recruiter for the National Guard. He said it is easy to talk about the program to other people because of how much it helped him.
Veterans Affairs Interim Director Guy Hurd said the award is a big deal because it helps both the university and the National Guard. He also said that it gives faith back to the students that the ETSU faculty wants to help them succeed.
“It gives them faith that we are here for them, and that we appreciate their service, and we thank them for it,” Hurd said. “And this just solidifies our professionalism as Veterans Affairs.”
