Military Veterans attending a trade school in Norfolk, Virginia, which recently accepted Vets using the Post-9/11 GI Bill, were visited by Eric K. Shinseki, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), on February 16.
Shinseki paid a visit to Tidewater Tech, a trade school on East Princess Anne Road, where he met privately with GI Bill students, and was given a tour of the school. He spoke to instructors and reporters, and shared that while unemployment among Veterans of recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are on a decline, it is still “far too high” above the national average. He also mentioned that he was impressed by what he saw at Tidewater Tech.
Shinseki was quoted as saying: “I’m very confident that this generation is equally capable of rebuilding our nation.”
Yvette Wilson, executive director for Tidewater Tech, shared that more Veterans are enrolling in their programs after changes to the GI Bill took effect four months ago. These changes included an extension to the GI Bill’s benefits, to include vocational schools.
Around 30 of the campus’ 200 students are Vets who are using the GI Bill. In addition, about half of the instructors at Tidewater Tech are Veterans as well. Wilson shared: “We want to help everybody, but it’s especially an honor to serve our veterans. And we’ve found that employers really do want to hire them.”
Tidewater Tech offers training in auto repair, welding, building maintenance, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
