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| Danny Simmons, who served for 20 years in the U.S. Army, is currently working toward his associate degree in medical sonography at Southwestern Community College. |
Every time Danny Simmons was assigned to a new base during his 20 years of Army service, a Family Readiness Group (FRG) was waiting to help him get acclimated to his new surroundings.
Upon retiring from the military and starting a new chapter in his life at Southwestern Community College, Simmons never imagined something comparable to FRG would be available.
He was happy SCC proved him wrong.
“I didn’t expect that there would a community here for me; I didn’t expect that in civilian life,” said Simmons, a Franklin resident who’s enrolled in SCC’s medical sonography program. “They’ve got a veteran group of like-minded people. We all have the same type of problems, and we help each other out. It’s nice to have fallen in with this group. There’s a little bit of a feeling of home to it.”
The active nature of SCC’s Veterans Club (formed at the recommendation of SCC’s Veterans Retention Action Team) as well as the support of Sayward Cabe, a veteran and SCC’s financial aid assistant director, are just two of the reasons SCC has been listed in the “2016 Guide to Military Friendly® Schools.”
Simmons cited Cabe’s assistance as invaluable in his transition to college life.
“One of the deterring factors in anything is money; that’s always stressful,” Simmons said. “I started talking to Sayward even before I enrolled at Southwestern. She and others at SCC worked with me on pre-requisities and helped me enroll in the right classes. I’ve had no problems.
“The people at SCC have taken a lot of stress off of me,” Simmons added. “The most important thing is the peace of mind they give and knowing I’m going to be able to do this.”
Cabe served in the Air Force from 2002-03 - and her husband Daniel Cabe is also a veteran – so she understands the importance of making the college transition as easy as possible for fellow veterans.
“They’ve earned, and they deserve, these benefits of coming to college,” Cabe said. “We take care of them because they’ve taken care of us.”
For more information about veterans’ activities and financial aid at SCC, contact Cabe at s_cabe@southwesterncc.edu or 828.339.4315.
