Members of the ASU Veterans Club, which has provided support for student veterans and their families since reopening in 2010, will be running and volunteering at the eighth annual Pat's Run on April 21.
The 4.2-mile race, named for former ASU football player and Afghanistan veteran Pat Tillman, commemorates Tillman’s life and benefits veterans programs.
Club president Keith Finkle, an interdisciplinary studies junior, said his group works on a large community service project like Pat's Run each semester in addition to hosting bimonthly social events, monthly meetings and family barbecues.
"We really focus on taking care of veterans and their family, friends and school," Finkle said.
The club tries to provide a comfortable social atmosphere for student veterans, who often feel isolated from their classmates, Finkle said.
He said he realized in his first semester at ASU after returning from two deployments in Iraq that he took a different approach to classes than many of his classmates, who only seemed to care about fulfilling credit requirements.
He said student veterans and their civilian classmates need to realize that they can learn from each other: Typical college students can learn motivation from their driven veteran counterparts, while student veterans could use their classmates' help in transitioning back to civilian life.
"It takes a little while for veterans to realize that there's no bombs going off and you can be a little more relaxed," Finkle said.
Veterans Club treasurer Jason Ohanian, who will graduate with his master’s in business administration in May, agreed with Finkle.
"If you're a veteran, going back to college is just different," Ohanian said.
He entered the army in 1999 after receiving a law degree from the University of Georgia.
Ohanian said his experience in the infantry changed who he was as a student. As an undergraduate and a law student, he was content to just pass his classes; now, he pushes himself as hard as he can in each of them.
"(Serving in the army) was both the best and worst job I ever had," Ohanian said. "If nothing else, I care more now. There's much more of a competition to do well.”
The ASU Veterans Club tries to reach out to other students, veterans and nonveterans alike.
Ohanian said the club is not exclusive to veterans and instead wants to reach out to anybody who supports veterans or has family members who have served in the military.
"We're not as different as people think," Ohanian said. "We don't all have PTSD. We're just good people trying to do better for ourselves."
Reach the reporter at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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