The Military-Affiliated Student Hub, MASH for short, offers support and direction for student veterans, active duty, and their families. MASH is dedicated to the financial support and education of these students and their families, as well as furthering awareness and service through community and university outreach.
Located on the third floor of the Losee Center, the MASH center has a staff dedicated to the success of these students. Director Spencer Elbert describes the mission of MASH as to, “serve the veterans, service members, and their families; from their mission to graduation and beyond.” This is done through educational Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits, personal outreach, and according to Elbert, a vast number of other “support resources.”
Most of the staff at MASH focus on securing VA benefits for students, including academic advisement and financial aid. Elbert says they also participate in advocating for policy at UVU, in particular policies that clarify the course of action when an active-duty student is deployed during school year.
The mission of MASH goes beyond their students, as they also host a number of campus and community events. With over 2,000 military-affiliated students at UVU, Director Elbert says, “We want people to know that we have military affiliated students at UVU.” He further explains that the first step of awareness is to just simply get the word out, calling it the first step in “getting them on our team… there are people who support the cause, who want to help out, and sometimes they just need the opportunity to do that.”
Elbert encourages fellow UVU students to “be a friend,” to MASH students. He further says students can support these students through educating themselves on the challenges MASH students go through.
Mackenzie Pidgeon, Coordinator of MASH, voices a similar sentiment of understanding service member students, as well as their families, saying, “It’s not just the veterans themselves, it’s the dependents as well… they have a very unique situation.”
Pidgeon explains how MASH can offer some structure for service member students who are transitioning out of the strict military lifestyle. This support for their unique experience extends to their families as well.
Events
MASH puts on a number of events throughout the course of the school year. A few upcoming events are listed below. For more information on events and MASH, visit the MASH website.
Horse Back Riding, UVU Rodeo Arena
Date: September 23
Time: 9 am
Where: UVU Rodeo Arena
Navy Birthday Cake Cutting
Date: October 13
Time: 11 am
Where: Carrol Reid Atrium Losee Center 4th Floor
Marine Corps. Birthday Cake Cutting
Date: November 10
Time: 11 am
Where: Carrol Reid Atrium Losee Center 4th Floor
Veterans Day Brunch
Date: November 11
Time: 9:30 am – 11 am
Where: UVU Grand Ballroom
