The Santiago Canyon College Foundation, the fundraising arm of the college, holds an annual golf tournament, with proceeds going toward different college initiatives and scholarships.
In order to expand on the success of Veterans Resource Center, the center was selected as the sole beneficiary for the 2025 Golf tournament, held May 2 at the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club.
The funds raised from the tournament, nearly $85,000, are the most ever in the history of the college, said Kathy Jennison, executive director of the foundation. “This year, I thought it would be a good idea to partner with the veterans because they’ve got this high designation, and I thought maybe that would bring in some additional supporters,” she said. “And it also being our 25th anniversary, I just thought we should have a good cause aligned with it.”
The Veterans Resource Center helps students like Jeno Jorgensen.
During his 12-plus years serving his country in the Marine Corps, Jorgensen had multiple assignments and deployments, including tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa.
After discharging, Jorgenson, 40, became vice president of sales for a marketing firm and then an operations manager for an aerospace company.
Jorgenson said many veterans are confronted with challenges upon entering civilian life, so when he learned that some of his Marine buddies had died by suicide, he felt compelled to act.
“I realized it’s not as easy getting care or help or anything, really, when it comes to veterans,” said Jorgensen, who acknowledged some of his own struggles with mental health. “Everyone is quick to throw you a pamphlet. Everyone is quick to say, ‘Hey, we’ll care for you.’ But it’s all surface level.”
Jorgensen, a husband and father of two boys, decided he was going to “be the change that veterans need. In order to do that, I needed to go to school.”
The first step was to earn a psychology degree, and with Santiago Canyon College a short drive from home, it seemed the logical place to start, he said.
The Veterans Resource Center was Jorgensen’s first stop on the SCC campus.
He was instantly blown away by the genuine hospitality and willingness of the staff to provide every resource he would need to not only further his education but also to thrive professionally and personally.
“These guys just absolutely bend over backwards for you,” he said. “They treated you the way they feel you deserve to be treated as a veteran. The camaraderie in the military, forged through combat and through training and through all the stresses that you go through … that camaraderie is felt in that VRC Center.”
The 450 military students and their spouses and dependents served annually by the center would likely echo similar sentiments.
And it is this standard of service to those who’ve served and their families that has earned the veterans center multiple Military Friendly designations by Viqtory, a trademarked standard that measures an organization’s commitment to creating opportunities for the military community.
For the 2024-25 academic year, SCC was named a Top 10 Gold / Spouse Friendly distinction in several areas, including graduation rate, GPA, retention rate and emergency funding.
After graduating from SCC, Jorgenson plans to continue his education and ultimately become a licensed marriage and family therapist and open therapy centers for veterans and their families.
During the banquet following the golf tournament, Jorgenson was selected as one of the speakers to share their experience with the center.
John Guthrie, a Marine Corps veteran and SCC alum, was also selected to share his experiences with the veterans center at the banquet.
During his four years in the Marines, Guthrie served as a communications Marine, attached to both infantry and artillery, serving in Hawaii and Japan.
After assimilating back into civilian life and attending SCC, Guthrie found a sense of purpose working at the veterans center.
He served as a team leader and then became president of the SCC chapter of Student Veterans of America Peer Advisors for Veteran Education program, helping fellow veterans transition from the military.
Guthrie went on to graduate with high honors from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in accounting.
He now works at SCC as a special projects specialist as he progresses toward an MBA in Leadership and Organizational Change at Pepperdine University.
Guthrie also serves as director of finance and marketing for a veteran-focused nonprofit, maintaining his commitment to empowering military families throughout their civilian transitions.
“(The veterans center) is probably the pivotal reason why I succeeded as well as I did,” Guthrie said. They definitely helped me make that transition easier, from being a very military, very black-and-white thinker to having that sense of belonging again.”
SummerFest
The Veterans Resource Center will host a celebration filled with games, food, veteran resources and live music for the entire family.
When: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. June 7
Where: Santiago Canyon College, 8045 E. Chapman Ave., Orange
Cost: Free for veterans and their families
RSVP: 714-628-4793 or vrc@sccollege.edu