September 2026 Newsletter | | |
Welcome back, PAVE Teams!
We hope you had a great summer and are ready to hit the ground running for the new school year! PAVE is entering its 15th year, and we are so grateful for your ongoing partnership.
The start of a new semester means training your team, setting roles and expectations, scheduling outreach events, and uploading your students. It’s definitely one of the busiest times of the year.
At our recent All-Network Call, we discussed different ways to engage students and connect them with PAVE. Here are a few ideas to try:
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When you reach out to students, ask them a question and give them a reason to respond.
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Use a quick survey with questions such as: What kinds of activities would you be interested in? How would you like to receive information from us?
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Introduce your team! Share photos and a little about each team member on your website, social media, or in your office/space.
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Make it personal. Add your photo to your email signature so students can put a face to your name.
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Send a quick follow-up email shortly after events to keep the conversation going.
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Tailor your messages when you can. Think about students’ major, year in school, family role, or whether they are a student veteran, spouse, or dependent.
The big takeaway: Sometimes a small personal touch is what gets a student to respond, show up, or take that first step toward connecting with PAVE.
And one more thing: We are scheduling our Campus Team Calls for the first two weeks of October. We’re looking forward to catching up, hearing how the semester is going, and talking about what’s ahead for your PAVE team.
Here’s to a great year ahead!
The PAVE National Team
pave.info@umich.edu
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From the Field: Highlights from recent Biweekly Reports
| | Any events, moments, or successes you’d like to share? | | “Our "Magic Night with Mike" event was a lot of fun, got everyone talking and contributing and was a fitting sendoff for our departing Peer Advisor.” –Robert Graham Preston, Team Leader at Chemeketa Community College | | “Pins, Pizza, and Peers was a bowling social designed to welcome student veterans into the PAVE community. We had a total of 30 student veterans attend and collaborated with the Student Veterans of America (SVA) to help PAVE peers connect with fellow student veterans who are already familiar with CSUF." –Stephanie Ramos, Team Leader at California State University, Fullerton | | "Welcome Back Days was fun and I think we got a lot of traction." –Andrew Salazar, Team Leader at University of New Mexico | | Any team members you'd like to recognize for doing a great job? | | "A big shout out to our Peer Advisor Emily DeSantis for going above and beyond, connecting with the local YMCA and volunteering her time and energy to do haircuts at the recent Veterans Stand Down. She brings a real dedication for service to our team and we're lucky to have her." –Robert Graham Preston, Team Leader at Chemeketa Community College | | "Vivianna, a Peer Advisor, sent out an outstanding first outreach email to her advisees." –Andrew Salazar, Team Leader at the University of New Mexico | | “Crystal Sanchez, a part of Lobo 8 at the University of New Mexico, has been incredibly dedicated to PAVE, finding resources for military-affiliated students, and consistently doing outreach emails and logging them." –Andrew Salazar | | "We have three new advisors this semester, Tony, Damon, and Naomi. All three of them have jumped right in and are doing a great job so far." –Erick Friel, Team Leader at Johnson County Community College | | “Greg Lorang. He's been a hard charger and great motivator for not just his own PAVE peers, but his fellow advisors and the whole team here!" –Erick Friel | | "Chrissy Daniels did a ton of prep work for this year. She was very deliberate and put a lot of focus on what was best for the veteran students." –Rob Healy, Team Leader at University at Buffalo | | University of Nevada – Las Vegas PAVE members at Rebel Ready Week | | University of Nevada – Las Vegas PAVE & Rebel Vet members at the First Rebel Vet meeting of the semester | |
Featured Best Practice: Holding regular meetings
| | For our Peer Advisors and Team Leaders, balancing classes, life, and PAVE is a constant. While it might be tempting to view regular team meetings as just another obligation, they are the backbone of a successful program, offering crucial structure and a dedicated time for administrative upkeep. These meetings can include time to log activities, ensuring important peer outreach and interactions are documented before they are forgotten. | |
| Regular meetings create an intentional environment where team members can decompress, share academic wins, and support one another through the unique challenges of being a Peer Advisor and military-connected student. By kicking off each session with a quick personal check-in before diving into business, the team meeting can become a tool to boost camaraderie and strengthen the team, which, in turn, strengthens the program. | |
FAQ: Is the opt-in model right for your team?
| | Many partner campuses have switched from automatically enrolling all military-affiliated students in PAVE to an opt-in model, where students must explicitly request to join and be assigned a Peer Advisor. (Shout out to California State University, Fullerton for pioneering this model!) | |
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How do you know if opt-in might be right for your team? One of the main reasons partner campuses have adopted the opt-in approach is to combat Peer Advisor burnout. Peer Advisors can find it challenging to manage outreach to large groups of assigned students. When that outreach work meets low response rates, it is easy to feel discouraged.
In that case, the opt-in model can help by giving Peer Advisors a smaller roster of students who want to engage. However, it is also important to consider the opt-in approach's limitations. It means that there are many military-affiliated students not receiving the support of your PAVE team. Even if they don't respond, receiving resources and outreach can make a big difference in a student's experience. Knowing someone is there to help you, even if you never take them up on it, has significant psychological benefits.
If you are considering an opt-in approach for your PAVE team and have additional questions or want to talk it through further, please reach out to us at pave.info@umich.edu.
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September All-Network Call: Our topic was Engaging Students. Here is a link to the recording and presentation slides:
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Please reach out to us at pave.info@umich.edu with any questions you have about engaging with students.
October All-Network Call: We'll send information and the registration link a couple of weeks prior.
| | This Partner Directory spreadsheet contains contact information for Team Leaders, Veteran Services Coordinators, and Campus Champions from schools in the PAVE Network. We encourage you to use it to find contact information for your counterparts at other Partner Campuses whenever you'd like to connect with them directly. View the Partner Directory. | |
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