Since their inception on November 10, 1775, the United States Marine Corps have been at the forefront of the American Military, a living and breathing team, dedicated to defending their home at all costs.
Every year, the Veterans Resource Center at Mt. SAC celebrates the birthday of the Marine Corps and this year was no different. The event serves as a place for students, staff and faculty who are veterans to connect with each other. However, while it is meant to honor the Marine Corp specifically, it is also a way to honor all the branches of the military.
Desiree Campos, the manager of the VRC comes from a family of veterans. While she didn’t serve herself, she understands what it’s like for veterans when they come back and go to school, making her work very personal to her.
However, while Campos doesn’t take credit for planning the event, instead giving the credit to Jazmine Vargas and the peer mentors that work with the VRC, she shines a light on how long it takes to plan these events.
“They take about three to six months to plan the veterans event month events,” Campos said. “Specifically for our Marine Corps birthday, it is one of the highlights of the veterans month event and they put weeks and weeks of time into planning to ensure everything goes smooth.’
Campos has made memories while working and attending each event, seeing younger and older veterans interact being her favorite so far.
“For me, it’s seeing some of our younger veterans that are able to interact with other veterans around campus,” Campos said. “In particular, I think it’s really amazing to see our veterans that are currently enrolled, see alumni coming back. So I think our veterans breakfast is the highlight for me because they can see that there’s not only alumni that still support them and come back for the tradition but also that there’s faculty and staff members throughout campus that have served.”
One Marine Corp veteran in particular who continues to work with the VRC through his counseling is dr. Luis Echeverria Newberry. Echeverria Newberry is a former E6 staff sergeant who served for 12 years. However, when Echeverria Newberry left, he wanted to find something that would serve his community.
“I did some career searching and soul searching and realized becoming a counselor would be the way to help other service members and Marines especially,” Echeverria Newberry said.
Though his work with the department of Veteran Affairs was fulfilling, Echeverria Newberry felt like he wasn’t helping enough people. “I saw I was helping on a case management model, I was providing service to 50, 70 at the most every month and I was looking for ways to make that grow,” Echeverria Newberry said. “When I went to school, there’s a larger population coming straight out of service and challenges I faced going through higher education is what really encouraged me to want to look into higher ed and that’s how I ended up hired.”
However, at his core, Echeverria Newberry is still a proud Marine. With this being the 250th birthday of the branch, he shared what the birthday celebration on campus meant to him.
“That’s what the Marine Corp is, it’s a family,” Echeverria Newberry said. “Regardless of when a Marine served, where they served, age, there’s always a connection. That’s one of the things the birthday represents. Whenever we meet a Marine, no matter where it is, we already have the bond and the connection.”
Although, not every person comes out of active duty immediately feeling that sense of community.
Victor Sierra is a 34 year-old, formerly incarcerated Marine Corps Infantry Platoon Sergeant veteran. While his journey to the Marines was different than many people’s, Sierra’s reason for joining could resonate with many.
“I think I was looking for something different from what I was currently doing,” Sierra said. “It was very hard to get out. I didn’t know what to do with my life.”
After serving for eight years through five combat tours, Sierra came back and after some time, found his way to Mt. SAC after a difficult time in his life. However, feeling disconnected from that sense of community and comradery that the Marines have, he stumbled through his early time at Mt. SAC until he ran into Rising Scholars. “Even though I went to the Veterans Center, I didn’t relate with veterans yet, I was still kind of avoiding it,” Sierra said “And I ran into Rising Scholars. A student brought me down, I
met Dani Silva our last school [Associated Students] president and she was my peer mentor.”
Through Silva’s encouragement, Sierra realized that he was able to create and be a leader at Mt. SAC. That encouragement led him to found the Student Veterans of America club in the spring of 2024 which has grown to 150 members.
Though he has graduated from Mt. SAC, Sierra still comes to campus every day as part of the VA work study program as a peer mentor. Now a student at Cal State LA in the rehabilitation services program, he has found his community with his fellow veterans both on campus and at CSULA.
With plans to come back as an academic counselor at Mt. SAC and goals to work as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the VA, his end goal is to earn a doctorate and come back as dr. Victor Sierra.
However, despite his journey, the thing that continues to push him forward is the purpose he found while serving. “This gave me purpose,” Sierra said. “It’s the people you meet and the brotherhood you bring, and how you connect is what is important. I think if we can do that as students and continue that camaraderie, we can find those groups and build those groups upon each other and be uncomfortable so we can grow.”
