UCCS earns national recognition for veteran services

UCCS is home to more than 1,000 student veterans and the college recently got some national recognition for its veteran services.

US News and World Report ranked UCCS the top public college in Colorado and one of the best in the west when it comes to a veteran’s education.

Johnny Garcia, 28, an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran is a senior.

In 2011 in Iraq, his unit hit an IED.

Garcia was inside the armored vehicle and uninjured. The next year, this veteran who was stationed at Fort Carson started at UCCS on the GI Bill.

“I had already developed a nice family, a network of friends and family here in Colorado Springs, so I decided to stay,” Garcia said.

Garcia graduates next May with a degree in geography and environmental studies. He attributes his university’s the national prestige to his professors and mentors.

“They just know how to work with you which is great,” Garcia said. “It makes it so comfortable to transition. You feel like it’s home. You’re not far away from people who are trying to help you.”

Army veteran Phillip Morris leads the university’s student veteran affairs program.

“Working with these students day in and day out is very rewarding for me,” Morris said. “It allows me to see their growth, see them work through the same process as a student veteran.”

According to UCCS staff, about 11,000 students attend the University, 15 percent of whom are former or current military.