Sinai Garcia is a graduate student studying for her Master of Social Work in the College of Social Science. She is the Peer Advisors for Veteran Education team leader and MSW intern at the Student Veterans Resource Center, which is dedicated to promoting the educational, career, and personal advancement of service members, veterans and their families at Michigan State University. The SVRC is part of Student Life and Engagement. Garcia served in the Marine Corps from 2015 to 2019.
During my first year in college, where I played soccer at San Diego Miramar College in California, I was struggling mentally. I had a tough time keeping up with my schoolwork, and my grades were showing it. I was going through a “I don't know what I am going to do with my life” phase and knew I didn't want to stay in California forever. So, I made a drastic decision as my first year of college was coming to an end: I joined the Marine Corps in 2015.
In the Marine Corps, I studied supply chain management and was stationed in Camp Lejuene, North Carolina, and Quantico, Virginia.
My father always encouraged us to go to school and get a degree, so after leaving the Marines in 2019 I went to Washtenaw Community College and got my associate degree. I was admitted to MSU in the winter of 2020, but unfortunately the pandemic made it difficult to feel like a Spartan.
In late fall of 2021, I made the decision to get more involved with the student community, especially the veteran community. I was a work-study at the Student Veteran Resource Center, became the president of the Student Veterans of America Organization, or SVA, and was a peer adviser for Peer Advisor for Veteran Education, or PAVE. I wanted to make sure no one felt alone — I wanted to help our veteran community at MSU.
After graduating with my bachelor’s in social work in the spring of 2023, I knew I wanted to return for my Master of Social Work at MSU. I felt like I wasn't done with my job — there is more to be done to reach our veteran community.
Currently, I am an intern at the SVRC and hope to help grow our new Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership, or VITAL, program we have through Veterans Affairs. VITAL is a student veterans outreach program that helps veterans with their life transition from military to college. We have a coordinator/social worker that comes in every other Tuesday and offers direct clinical care, such as individual, group and couples therapy, care coordination like linking you to the VA and helps with VA enrollment.
My role with the VITAL program is to educate and train the campus community to promote a welcoming and supportive environment for veterans with the help of the VITAL coordinator. This program is important for me to have on campus because it's free of charge to all student veterans at MSU and easily accessible. This program would have been a game changer for me when I was transitioning into college life 4 years ago.
I also became the PAVE lead. Currently, we are revamping PAVE to add more roles and duties for next year, so I am excited for that! I want every veteran that gets admitted to MSU to come to the SVRC and leave with a new family and all types of resources to make East Lansing feel like home.
Not only am I a full-time student and enjoy helping my fellow veterans improve their quality of life here at MSU, I am also a mom to three dogs and started/own my own photography business within the last year. I love to keep myself busy, and am proud of all of the work I am doing on top of helping my veteran community at MSU.