This week we spoke to Habacuc Rico, the Illinois Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA at McHenry County College. As the Veterans Coordinator it was a big week for Habacuc. On Tuesday his office hosted a Veterans lunch and on Friday, November 9, Habacuc is helping host a Veterans Day ceremony. This ceremony will honor veterans, as well as allow them to mingle during the reception. The keynote speaker is retired Sgt. Major Thomas Morrissey, who served more than 30 years in the U.S. Army Special Forces, with his last 14 years of service with the Illinois National Guard.

This week isn’t the only time that Habacuc celebrates and honors veterans through his position. One of Habacuc’s biggest goals this year is to create a SALUTE Chapter at McHenry County College. SALUTE is Veterans National Honor Society that allows student veterans to compete for scholarships, honors them in graduation ceremonies, gives them the opportunity to network with other student veterans and much more. Habacuc believes that this might give student veterans another reason to get involved with the Veterans Resource Center, which he says is his biggest struggle.

The Veteran’s Resource Center offers access to scholarships and grants, study/workgroup space, career and job services, as well as Student Veterans of America (SVA) meetings.  The center also offers veterans book and laptop scholarships, as well providing help applying for veteran benefits. Obviously the center provides amazing and important resources, and it’s Habacuc’s job to make sure that veterans are taken advantage of them.

McHenry County College has a total of 235 veterans enrolled in courses. A high number, that reflects the 19 thousand veterans residing in McHenry County. Because of this large number of Habacuc works with a plethora of community organizations geared toward helping veterans. Among these organizations are the Veterans Assistance Commissions, American Legion, Transforming Lives through Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Lovell VA, VA Reginal Benefit Office, National Alliance on Mental Illness, and McHenry County Workforce Network. The Veteran’s Resource Center works with these organizations to make sure their student veterans have all the tools and help to be successful.

What makes Habacuc so good at his position, is the fact that he can connect with student veterans and understand them. He can do this be he is a student veteran himself. Habacuc served in the army as a military policeman from 2008-2015. He said that he knows what it is like transitioning back into civilian life, and how hard it can be. This is why he takes so much joy in helping veterans. Currently, Habacuc is pursuing a degree at Northern Illinois University in nonprofit and NGO studies. He hopes after his VISTA term is completed, that he can continue working with Veterans.

His VISTA term began in August, but already he has increased the number of students involved in Student Veterans of America. Usually, only 3-5 students come to meetings but recently that has increased to 15 student veterans. Habacuc says that a lot of the reason is because he has been making sure veterans know what SVA is, and what the resource center can do for them. A lot of the reason why numbers are so low, is many student veterans have families or jobs, so when they are done with classes they are ready to leave campus. Habacuc says that he wants to increase SVA attendance to 100 student veterans by the end of his service. Although a mighty goal, it is obvious that Habacuc is right for the job.