Columbia University Campus Tour

welcome to Columbia University my name is Connor abamonte I'm alumnus of this University a veteran of the United States Navy and a member of The Next Step inbound team today Next Step inbound has partnered with Columbia University's Center for veteran transition integration we're going to take you around this year college show you what it's like to be a student veteran in Columbia University in the city of New York [Music] [Music] thank you found it in 1754 Columbia University is the oldest institution of Higher Learning here in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States of America Columbia's home took 31 000 stewards 8 800 of whom are undergraduates and in 1947 Columbia University started the school of General Studies to cater to World War II veterans who backed by their GI bills were stoked to start their undergraduate Endeavors today GS is home to everyone from Olympic ice dancers ballerinas most importantly leaders to dearest my art military veterans GS students take the same courses study with the same faculty and major in the same departments and are held to the same high standards as all other Columbia undergraduates be they from Columbia College the first School of Engineering or Barnard College you take the same classes you get the same grades you get the same degrees well New York City can be a vibrant and oftentimes loud City our campus It's relatively quiet with the exception of those screaming youths however if you do need even more quiet you can go to one of Columbia's many libraries some of the more iconic ones are low in Butler Library Columbia's largest library but there's a total of 17 different libraries on campus for students to use which of course is why Colombia is recognized as having one of the top five academic research Library systems in North America you can catch students doing everything from studying with friends to writing essays to leisurely reading in any of the libraries one of the coolest classrooms here on campus is this happymire 309 it's been featured in everything from Spider-Man to Malcolm X the West Side Story about 10 blocks north from here you can find Columbia University's manhattanville campus which is home to the newly redesigned business school the campus encompasses more than 17 acres and includes publicly accessible open space tree-lined sidewalks and Innovative buildings on campus you can do everything from grabbing a cup of coffee with friends to rock climbing between classes also a sweet perk to know about is that undergraduate students can actually take classes at the new business school granting them access to a curriculum that so few get to experience now when it comes to profound locations across campus people generally think of Butler Library well library but behind me Stan's Lewiston Hall home to the GS Lounge let's go check it out the GS Lounge is a great space for student vets or any student that's part of the GS Community to study collaborate or work on various projects or simply hang out [Music] Additionally the GS Lounge will host various events throughout the year but to see one of the biggest event spaces on campus we have to head over to learner Hall [Music] right next to Butler Library is Lerner Hall where Hall happens to be home to my favorite dining hall on campus Ferris Booth Commons and is home to some of the biggest event spaces on campus including where they hold weekly millvets meetings millvet's president Grace Noyes happens to be waiting for us upstairs let's go meet up with them milvents was originally founded in 2002 by a group of students at the school of General Studies today milvets continues to be a great asset and Community for all service members Grayson hey Connor how are you good to see you dude please stop into my office oh absolutely after you thank you [Music] Mazel Tov mazel tov Grayson thank you so much for joining us today man absolutely Connor so before we begin do you mind telling us a little bit about your military service and how you got to Columbia University sure I served four years in the Marine Corps as a military police officer same here absolutely very cool um spent two years in Okinawa Japan on Camp Hansen from there went on missions to Mongolia Philippines and South Korea and then spent the last year of my service in San Diego so you are the president of Columbia University's milvets group do you mind telling us a little bit about millvitz absolutely you know so milvets is the student Organization for all of the veterans at Columbia with a specific focus on the 500 or so undergraduate veterans currently at the school of General Studies we advocate for veterans needs we facilitate a successful education and really our focus is to transition veterans into Collegiate society and ensure that they succeed afterwards too in professional and corporate Society what's just one thing you want to share with the audience um you know I think that if you are considering coming to Columbia University I think it is a really unique and special Community you are right in the center of the financial of the of the financial Hub of the world with so many opportunities living in New York City and attending Columbia University especially as a veteran is is such an invigorating experience and I know that it may be intimidating during the application process but just realize you have people to help you you have organizations that will advocate for you and everything will work out how it's supposed to Grace and it's been really informative and I'm sure you've helped a lot of people who are considering applying here thanks again man absolutely and in case you were wondering no Colombia doesn't require military veterans to live in the dorms during their freshman year in fact the GI bill or Voc Rehab will provide you with a monthly housing allowance which is E5 bah in New York City it's enough to live in New York pretty comfortably trust me I did it for four years Columbia University also offers various benefits that are applicable to student vets whether it be Mental Health Services through the center of counseling and Psychological Services the disability services offered by the disability department or academic assistance through writing workshops which are hosted at The Writing Center on campus one of the best resources are the professors here at Columbia so now let's go chat with a couple of them Professor O'Flaherty thank you so much for joining us today um before we begin do you mind telling us about what you teach here at Columbia and how long you've been a part of the faculty I teach economics I do principles of economics Urban economics economics of race and a few other topics I've been here since 1987. awesome and in your time that you've been here how would you say that veterans differentiate themselves in your classroom compared to their traditional 18 year old fresh out of high school counterparts well there are a lot more veterans now than when I started and I think that's progress they come with much more experience they're much more eager uh to learn things to to make progress so I would say that military vets whom I've had a few both here and at other schools um tend to be older of course more experienced more mature and it's always nice to have more experience more mature students in the class they bring a whole different perspective to the class I find that veterans when they come into the class have a wealth of experiences some of which are different from the experiences of their classmates and they add to a really rich mix in conversation has anyone ever had you know a Family Children any of the other you know Milestones of life that come with being an older student and how have those students either benefited or survived in a college environment because those can get in the way I know from experience right older students military vets as well as other older students of course have more things going on in their lives they have family they have jobs often and on the one hand I think they can almost juggle better than a younger student because they're more they're more they're more mature but also of course we I think I and other professors as well of course we want to know about that sort of thing and we will do what we can to to accommodate I support students who have kids of their own I have kids of my own I'm sympathetic to the incredible demands of Parenthood what advice would you give to somebody in the military Community considering applying to college I mean not really different from what I would give the advice I would give to somebody in the military Community doesn't differ that much from what I would give to anybody you when you write your application for example make sure that you talk about your personal experience What Makes You Different and for a for a vet obviously that's something that makes them different from the average college applicant it's a really like a once in a lifetime opportunity to think differently and to take the time to focus on questions that you really care about and to gain skills and to learn how to think differently and it's it's always worth it Professor Cooper thank you so much for your time today it's been incredibly informative and helpful for the military Community thank you for inviting me I appreciate it thank you so much for your time Professor we genuinely appreciate it it's been very informative of course everything that you want is here just go get it and now we're gonna have a conversation with the vice Dean in the school of General Studies Dean Curtis Rogers let's go his experience working with military service members and Veterans over the last 20 years led to his founding along with the late Dean Peter J on the center for veteran transition and integration and today we're thrilled to have the ability to chat with him Dean Rogers thank you so much for your time today of course if you don't mind I'm going to ask you a couple questions sorry I have cold dead hands right now my hand has been out in this extreme cold for the last like 15 minutes um first question I have for you is what do you admire most about the veteran Community here at Columbia thank you for having me um I I admire the same thing I admire about all of our students at Columbia University it's the the contribution made in the classroom the contributions to the intellectual discourse Columbia University has a school dedicated to non-traditional students where most of our student veterans attend it's a school designed for non-traditional students who follow a non-traditional path and it's based on the idea that experience matters that experience informs what you want to think about what you want to write about what you want to actually contribute in the classroom and having student veterans in the classroom contributing based on their experiences during their time in service as enlisted women and men who who signed up to you know to serve the nation drawing on that bringing that into the classroom bringing that into into the the academic conversation is really one of the most valuable contributions they can make love it awesome okay cool next question overall when concerning the academic performance of veterans how do you think student veterans perform when compared to the traditional student directly out of high school it's an interesting question because I I sort of step back from that and I and I I don't see a difference now I say that knowing all students are different they come in with their own their own backgrounds their own academic and classroom experiences but when we look at populations across the Spectrum you know the contributions made and the performance that we see is as good as any other student at a highly competitive place like Columbia University they Thrive they Excel they succeed and they're probably disproportionately represented at the tops of the academic ranks within all of the units the academic departments that they're they're enrolled in cool I really appreciate your time today thank you so much for meeting with us and taking time to answer some of our questions yeah great thank you one of the best parts about being here in Columbia because they're in New York City there's endless bars restaurants places to hang out locations such as Blue Bottle Coffee Amity Hall Uptown Arts and Crafts beers or the staple of the milbats community Mel's Burger Bar on 110th if you want to get away from campus you're hardly in the best place on Earth to do so because New York is full of a lot of attractions via Times Square Central Park Grand Central Station Statue of Liberty Financial District Broadway Uranus bars rooftops or Adventures but don't be fooled Columbia puts on some amazing events for GS members throughout the year such as the GS Gala and the Columbia military ball which caters specifically to the student veteran Community here on campus don't just take it from me though let's introduce you to some of the student veterans here on Columbia's campus and see what they have to say about it as well [Music] so to begin do you mind telling us about your military service what branch were you in what was your job yes I was in the United States Navy and I was medically retired in 2015 so I served for five years for the five years I was in first Battalion 75th Ranger regiment I was in the Marine Corps I was in the Marine Corps for five years active duty I was at 66 94. I spent 22 years in the United States Army as a infantry officer did you face any challenges when you first showed up here on campus um yes I did because I am a commuting student and I'm also a parent so one of the challenges that I faced was getting to know other people and having some peers that I could depend on emotionally as well as academically what really helped me with that was melvets and knowing the other veterans and they were able to kind of relate to my experience as well how do you think you found Community here at Columbia yeah I um that was a huge worry for me trying to rebuild um uh you know friend groups that like how could I be connected as connected to somebody at College as I was you know in a squad uh back you know back on the line um and so one of the reasons I came to Columbia was because of how many veterans were here and I thought that that would be kind of a good transition when you first got here did you ever expect to have like a conversation or exchange or office hours or a relationship with a professor like that where you can you know kind of have that like Eyes Wide Open experience that like you're like oh wow you are right this is going to change the way that I approach something I think I came here with the opinion that school was pointless and I hated school because of my past experience with it um feel almost grateful for doing 12 years in the military because now I appreciate learning for what it is like it's no more about getting the check in the box it's like wow I want to do this because it's interesting and I'm curious what advice would you give the E4 the E5 the No No Tony or E7 who's you know done with the military and is considering a school like Columbia or just considering College in general I think my biggest piece of advice would be to not self-select so do not think that just because you may not come from a background that has set you up for an Ivy League education do not self-select yourself out of it you I'm a firm believer today like as I stand here right now that anything is possible you need to take that leap you need to take that jump and and believe in yourself and happen to the resources of the people who have already transitioned before you figure out what they did figure out how they tailored their resumes what would you recommend for those enlisted folks who have that mindset of colleges and for me and they're coming up to the end of their Enlistment when I did Warrior scholar project I came here and I was like nervous that the staff would judge me for like being this like dumb Marine that's covered in tattoos and the reality was so much different and like I had all these preconceived notions that like these people are so much smarter than me like I don't belong at a school like this like the ivy league seemed like this unreachable goal and then I get here and it's almost like wow I was so wrong like I do have value I do have things to add here what advice would you have for any Junior enlisted or any enlisted person the government's helping you to do something hard with a lot of financial assistance that most people would you know it you should really recognize just what asset you have in the GI Bill and understand that comes a little bit of responsibility because we're asking you to continue your studies we're asking you to be a better person we're asking you to use the GI bill to get educated and figure out what your next chapter is going to be and then to do great with it and that requires some growth and some learning so uh you know dive in don't be intimidated by it and recognize it's gonna be a hard journey you're getting paid to be here there's no reason not to even if it doesn't work at least make your own mind up like that four year if you did four years and got out like those four years changed something in you and when you get an environment like this where you're like learning things that you care about and like it's fun and you're paid to do it don't discount yourself don't sell yourself short I'm a first generation student so coming to an Ivy League was definitely not something that I thought I could do um but take a chance on yourself and you never know whether you'll end up we hoped you enjoyed this tour of Columbia University in the city of New York and if you'd like to see NSI host more tours like this on other college campuses let us know in the comments and finally if you like our merch let us know we're thinking of making some more till next time [Music] foreign

Channel: Next Step Inbound

Views: 1,301

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Id: BmdGqU12X58

Length: 18min 18sec (1098 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023