ESU Backup Insider

After serving in the U.S. Army in Germany, Michael DeLuzio ’84 arrived at ESU in 1980 feeling older than his fellow freshman.

He was only 21, but his experiences in the service and abroad gave him a different perspective, and he found few other veterans on campus to talk to about it.

“I couldn’t relate after being in the military for three years,” DeLuzio said. “I had some issues with just getting assimilated.”

Fast forward three decades. DeLuzio is now a social worker/readjustment counselor for the Scranton Veterans Center and comes twice a month to ESU to work with veterans on transitioning into civilian and campus life.

In January, ESU created a special place in Zimbar-Liljenstein Hall for veterans so they’ll have an easier time with that transition. Student veterans come for help with GI Bill benefits or other services, as well as to hang out, use computer stations, drink coffee or watch TV.

The ESU Student Veterans Center also gives the Student Veterans Association a home base.

Since DeLuzio’s student days, the number of student veterans on campus has grown. There are now 102 receiving GI Bill educational benefits, a number that has been inching up.

Coming from the Air Force, ESU sophomore Nicholas Hunt ’15 was used to dealing with bureaucratic red tape and had every reason to think getting his benefits might be a nightmare. But Hunt found the process much more streamlined than he expected, thanks to June Pepe ’00, ESU’s Veterans Services counselor and VA certifying official.

“She’s one of those behind-the-scenes, know-how-to-get-things-done people,” said Hunt, who is studying recreation services management with the intent of becoming a park ranger.

Pepe runs the Veterans Center and is training work/study students who are veterans how to help others receive benefits.

“So many inspire me with their leadership qualities and their strong sense of purpose,” Pepe says.

Pennsylvania National Guard reservist Joshua McKenna ’11, who graduated with a degree in political science and is working in Washington, D.C., as a military instructor, said he still contacts Pepe for advice when veteran friends are having trouble with benefits.

“June is very good at doing this,” DeLuzio added. “She helps expedite that for them.”

Pepe has been providing this help for years in her work in Enrollment Services, but the new Veterans Center consolidates ESU’s approach.

“We wanted to have a one-stop shop for veterans where they can get all the services ESU has for them,” said Geryl Kinsel ’01, ESU associate registrar. “We want them to have a place on campus to call their own.”

“These men and women have served our country and continue to contribute by bringing to campus a special perspective borne of their experiences in the military,” said university President Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D. “The Veterans Center is one way we can thank them for their service and make them feel valued.”

Hunt says it’s good just to have a place on campus where veterans can talk. He served in nuclear security at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana for four years, leaving the service as a senior airman.

“Coming from the military, we’re used to a much more rigid style of doing things, we have our own vernacular and needs,” Hunt said. “It’s good talking to somebody on the same wave length.”

That’s certainly true for veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, DeLuzio said. After leaving the regular Army, DeLuzio served in the
“These men and women have served our country and continue to contribute by bringing to campus a special perspective borne of their Army Reserves, including a stint in the first Gulf War in 1991 when he helped run a prisoner-of-war camp.

“You’re coming from a very disciplined society, a military subculture and you’re coming back to a totally different environment,” he said. “So it can be difficult winding down.”

All those who return from a war zone are entitled to free services through the Veterans Administration for five years, according to DeLuzio. “That goes for counseling as well as other health care.”

Pepe also helps student soldiers, such as National Guard members, who are taking classes but can be deployed with little notice.

“They might get a call and have to leave the next day so June will contact all the professors,” Kinsel said. “We’ve had people calling us from Afghanistan and they didn’t know what to do about their classes. She makes sure they don’t fail.”

As for DeLuzio, he’s happy his job has brought him full circle – easing the transition for soldiers who might be feeling the way he felt 33 years ago.
“There’s nothing better than giving back, doing what I like to do,” he said.