A group of WKU Public Relations Student Society of America students, called Five for Freedom, has teamed up with WKU’s chapter of Student Veterans of America to launch the Vets on the Hill membership campaign.  

According to a press release from PRSSA, the campaign was launched on Monday and has a set goal to “bring awareness of the over 2,000 undergraduate student veterans at WKU and help them connect to SVA and other veteran resources on campus.”

Five for Freedom member Cathy Adwell said benefits and resources for student Veterans are sometimes difficult to find, understand or access.

“They benefit from access to other veterans and those who understand their situations more in-depth,” she said. “SVA provides them this link to fellow student veterans and other resources for veterans on campus.”

The Student Veteran Alliance at WKU has a mission to “advocate on behalf of student veterans at the local, state and national level in order to help veterans succeed in higher education, achieve their academic goals and gain meaningful employment,” according to the press release.  

According to the press release, PRSSA National is developing nationwide public relations initiatives based on the Bateman Case Study Competition on behalf of Student Veterans of America.  As part of the initiatives, PRSSA students at college campuses nationwide are committing themselves to bringing awareness to SVA and helping veterans make connections with the resources that SVA provides. 

The Bateman Case Study Competition is PRSSA’s foremost national case study competition for public relations students, according to the campaign’s Web site. The competition gives students the opportunity to apply their education and experiences to create and implement full public relations campaigns.  

According to the Web site, the goals for this year’s competition “are to increase awareness on college campuses and in communities about veterans who are students around the globe.”

Five for Freedom initiated the campaign by hosting the Flag for Freedom event in Centennial Mall on campus Tuesday. The event welcomed all students to stop by a tent set up by the SVA and plant a small flag in honor of veterans.  

#VetsOnTheHill will be shared through WKU SVA social media sites to help bring awareness to the campaign. It can be found on the WKU SVA Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

“It’s our way of bringing recognition and support to the over 2,000 student veterans on campus,” Adwell said.  “We are promoting it through social media and with pictures of students and faculty holding a picture frame, which states ‘I Support SVA.’”