How To Help Student Veterans Align their Benefits with Their Academic Goals

Air Force veteran Marlena Blackman is VVC’s Lead Military Student Success Coach

Marlena Blackman is the Lead Military Student Success Coach for Virtual Veterans Communities, which means she focuses on helping veterans align their educational benefits with their academic and life goals. Marlena works with academic advisors and VA certifying officers to help student veterans determine the best route for meeting academic goals. 

After retiring from the Air Force after 21 years, Marlena enjoys working one-on-one with veterans to learn more about their career goals. She said she enjoys helping veterans understand the VA entitlements for which they may qualify and how to work with the VA to utilize them.

"I have always had a love of professional development, so meeting with veterans and giving information that can help them complete their educational goals has been both rewarding because it helps others and stimulating because it keeps me focused to learn more," Marlena said. 

Marlena knows firsthand how complicated educational benefits can be, but she has also had great success navigating them. She recently earned a Master of Science in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, MBA, and a Conflict Resolution Certificate from Golden Gate University. And she did it all while using her Post-9/11 GI Bill® benefits.

Marlena hails from Louisiana, and she's very proud to be the first woman in her family to serve in the military, attend college, and even move away from home.

"I am a first-generation non-sharecropper. My mother and grandmother picked cotton for a living," she said. "I've opened the door for other members in my family to do the same."

Marlena likes to spend time with her family, traveling, shopping, and cooking when she's not working. She enjoys coffee and tea -- depending on the time of day -- and since she grew up in the south, she's a fan of Dunkin' Donuts.

And since it's football season, it's important to note that Marlena likes the New Orleans Saints unless she's watching with her husband, and then she's a 49ers fan.

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