Campus Review
            
            
              March 26, 2012
            
            
              Page 2
            
            
              
                Clayton State Celebrates Veterans
              
            
            
              
                With Opening of Veterans Resource Center
              
            
            
              
                by John Shiffert, University Relations
              
            
            
              What originally began as a “coffee social”
            
            
              in 2008 has officially become the Clayton
            
            
              State University Veterans Resource
            
            
              Center (VRC).
            
            
              Under the direction of Vice President for
            
            
              Student Affairs Dr. Brian Haynes, the
            
            
              University held the grand opening and
            
            
              ribbon-cutting for the VRC on Mar. 16.
            
            
              While the event marked a significant
            
            
              milestone for Clayton State’s 400+ stu-
            
            
              dent veterans, it was also the culmination
            
            
              of many notable events and efforts at the
            
            
              University over the past four years. Many
            
            
              of those initiatives were the direct result
            
            
              of a tremendous amount of dedication and
            
            
              work by the student veterans’ best advo-
            
            
              cate on the Clayton State staff, Associate
            
            
              Director and Training Coordinator of
            
            
              Counseling and Psychological Services
            
            
              Shiraz Karaa.
            
            
              “The first few meeting were called ‘coffee
            
            
              socials’ but they served to bring together
            
            
              the students for academic and peer sup-
            
            
              port and, ultimately, to form the Student
            
            
              Veterans Association,” Karaa said recent-
            
            
              ly. “I had also been talking to service
            
            
              members coming to counseling for inte-
            
            
              grating into the civilian world and adjust-
            
            
              ing to college after the military. The
            
            
              vision was to have something similar to
            
            
              the USO on campus to serve the unique
            
            
              
                Show Your Laker Pride on Your Ride
              
            
            
              
                Reserve Your State of Georgia Clayton State License Plate
              
            
            
              Clayton State alumni, faculty/staff, stu-
            
            
              dents, retirees and friends of the
            
            
              University, here is your chance to “Show
            
            
              Your Laker Pride on Your Ride!”
            
            
              The University has been approved for a
            
            
              specialty license plate with the State of
            
            
              Georgia. However, in order to make it
            
            
              happen, the University needs 1,000 peo-
            
            
              ple to sign up and pay a one-time $25
            
            
              manufacturing fee before they will be
            
            
              available.
            
            
              The commemorative Clayton State plates,
            
            
              showcasing Clayton State’s athletic mas-
            
            
              cot Loch, will be produced if the State of
            
            
              Georgia's Department of Motor Vehicle
            
            
              Safety receives a minimum of 1000 orders
            
            
              in a two-year period.
            
            
              “I am so happy that we have initiated the
            
            
              process for obtaining a Clayton State
            
            
              Specialty license plate,” says President
            
            
              Dr. Thomas J. Hynes, who has signed up
            
            
              for license plate #1. “The State of Georgia
            
            
              commemorative license plate program is a
            
            
              fantastic way for alumni, faculty/staff,
            
            
              retirees, students and friends in the com-
            
            
              
                VRC, cont’d., p. 9
              
            
            
              
                Tag, cont’d., p. 8