Students deal­ing with the feel­ings of miss­ing loved ones serv­ing in the mil­i­tary can now find com­fort in Ferris’ new Military Support Group.

With their first meet­ing held on March 1, Ferris’ Military Support Group is com­posed of stu­dents ded­i­cated to pro­vid­ing relief to those with fam­ily and friends in the armed forces.

President of the Military Support Group Chelsea Halling said the idea to cre­ate the RSO came from hav­ing friends who had rela­tion­ships with peo­ple serv­ing in the mil­i­tary. Halling cur­rently has a fiancé in the armed forces and said she knows the feel­ing of hav­ing a loved one deployed.

“It makes it so much eas­ier to have some­one to talk to and get advice and encour­age­ment and to show that it is pos­si­ble to get through it in one piece,” said Halling.

Sharing per­sonal sto­ries and touch­ing expe­ri­ences with one another, Ferris’ Military Support Group is an RSO pro­vid­ing stu­dents coun­sel­ing for issues con­cern­ing loved ones in the armed forces.

Health care sys­tems admin­is­tra­tion senior Trisha Aniol said the new RSO will be very ben­e­fi­cial for stu­dents with fam­ily and friends serv­ing in the mil­i­tary. With a boyfriend cur­rently serv­ing as an offi­cer in the Marine Corps., Aniol said it is dif­fi­cult to find peo­ple capa­ble of relat­ing to hav­ing some­one close to them serve in the armed forces.

“The only peo­ple that truly know how you feel are other mil­i­tary fam­i­lies,” said Aniol.

Member Linzy Flier-Zylstra has had prior involve­ment with mil­i­tary sup­port groups and said she knows they can be very help­ful. She said Ferris’ Military Support Group gives her the oppor­tu­nity to help stu­dents deal with the feel­ings asso­ci­ated with mil­i­tary deployment.

“After my high school grad­u­a­tion, when many of my friends left for boot camp, life got a lit­tle lonely,” said Flier-Zylstra. “I think a group like this will help any­one who finds them­selves feel­ing the same way.”

Currently, Ferris’ Military Support Group is plan­ning to send care pack­ages to loved ones actively serv­ing in the mil­i­tary. Along with plan­ning future fundrais­ers and social events, Flier-Zylstra said the RSO will be an envi­ron­ment of stu­dents pas­sion­ate about sup­port­ing one another.

“I have a num­ber of friends and fam­ily mem­bers in the mil­i­tary that I miss dearly,” said Flier-Zylstra. “It just makes sense to be there for those who are in sit­u­a­tions like my own.”

Meetings for the Military Support Group are held Mondays at 8 p.m. in Flite 304. For infor­ma­tion on join­ing Ferris’ Military Support Group, con­tact advi­sor Thomas Larabel at ext. 3065. n

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