Military Coordinator authors two books

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 3, 2010

For more information contact:
Maria Scalise
Bryant & Stratton College
585.292.5627

Bryant & Stratton College’s Military Coordinator authors two books about military careers, also helps veterans train for civilian careers.

After eight years in the Army, Laura Stradley knew how to have a successful military career. She also knew that her success in the military began with the ASVAB. What’s ASVAB? It stands for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, the mandatory exam the military uses to determine your future service. “Recruiters use the ASVAB to determine which jobs are available to you. The higher you score, the more choices you will have in terms of your Military Occupational Specialty,” Stradley explained.

Today, Stradley is the Military Coordinator at Bryant & Stratton College, where she helps veterans successfully transition into college students. She’s also co-author of The Pocket Idiot’s Guide to the ASVAB, published last year; and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the ASVAB, which will be published this spring.

Stradley says, “Though most people recognize the ASVAB as the qualifying exam for entrance into any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, the test is also administered to over 600,000 high school students nationwide as a career counseling tool – whether they have an interest in enlisting or not.”

Stradley’s two books (which she co-wrote with Robin Kavanagh, an English professor at Bergen Community College in New Jersey) describe the “lay of the land,” as it pertains to the exam. The books also help plot test-taking strategies, and provide explanations for every subtest of the exam.

“I’ve never forgotten my experiences in the military,” Stradley says. “And I also remember what it was like to transition back to civilian life. These books, and my work at Bryant & Stratton College, allow me to help two groups of people I care about very much: those at the very beginning of their military career, and those who have already served and now want to transition to a new civilian career.”

Part of Stradley’s job as Military Coordinator at Bryant & Stratton College is to explain the wide range of benefits that are available to veterans and their families to help pay for college. “There are many government programs designed to lessen the financial burden of college for veterans; however, most of these programs are not well publicized. I want veterans to know what’s available to them, and that in some cases the government will pay for everything.”

Stradley goes on, “One of the main reasons I chose to work at Bryant & Stratton College is because of their commitment to veterans. The college strongly believes in promoting a military-friendly culture that is supported in every department, from admissions to academics. In fact, G.I. Jobs magazine recently named Bryant & Stratton College among the top 15% of military-friendly colleges in the nation! We are honored to have earned this distinction, and to serve the education needs of those who have sacrificed so much for our country.”

Bryant & Stratton College has two Rochester-area campuses: one in Greece on Bellwood Drive, and another in Henrietta on Jefferson Road. The college offers 12 Associate degree programs, including Accounting, Administrative Assistant, Business, Criminal Justice, Graphic Design, Human Resources Specialist, Interactive Media Design, Medical Administrative Assistant, Medical Assisting, Networking Technology, Paralegal Studies and Security Technology. All of the programs can be completed in as few as 16 months of full-time, continuous study.

For more information about the education benefits available to veterans at Bryant & Stratton College, call Laura Stradley at 585.720.0660 or email
[email protected].