Savanna Hebert-Annis is the Assistant Director of Veteran Student Services at Indiana University South Bend. Although she has only been in the role of Assistant Director for the last year, Savanna has been working with our student veterans for the last five years; specifically working to help students understand and obtain their benefits. Savanna also does her best to help make the Office of Veteran Student Services known to the community. One of Savanna’s favorite events is the Community Stand Downs. These are events that are primarily used for finding resources or resource sharing like filing disability claims and is even used for recruitment into the armed forces. At these events, Savanna and her team represent IU South Bend and the Office of Veteran Student Services. They engage attendees about college, GI Bill benefits, military branches, and community stakeholders that offer resources that can be implemented through their office.
It is important to Savanna to do her part to remove the barriers and stereotypes that surround the veteran community. To Savanna, the coolest part of her job is watching the students grow. “My favorite part is seeing these students transition from being unsure of their classes and college altogether to walking across the stage.” Community engagement is an important aspect for many, but Savanna says it’s especially important to members of the veteran community who are searching for that sense of community and belonging. In her own words, “community engagement is a multi-faceted thing. It helps to identify yourself as an individual and find your niche, and it also gives you the opportunity to meet others and move outside of your comfort zone. If we stay siloed, it makes it harder to have a unified community and see others as allies.”
Thank you Savanna for all that you do for our veterans, both on campus and in the community!