Standing at 5-foot-nothin’, with a permanent smile on her face and blond highlights in her brunette hair, Larkin Ray Harris is not your stereotypical military veteran. The former cheerleader and sorority girl hopes that fact will help overcome people’s ideas about vets.

“We’re not your typical beefcake dudes pounding our chest,” Harris said in her Little Rock, Ark., accent.

Her story, unusual as it may be, is representative of the thousands of veterans who are or will soon be in college. Though veterans get financial assistance for school, Harris and fellow members of the NIU Veterans Club – she is the vice president – want to make the transition to college as easy as possible for those who have served their country.

One way to do that, at NIU at least, is to join the Veterans Club, as talking to people in a similar situation can make the transition smoother, they say. Also, Harris and Club President J.D. Kammes are hoping to get NIU to open a Veteran’s Resource Center, which “would be a point of contact for everything: classes, benefits, counseling,” Kammes said.

Kammes, who served eight years of active duty in Iraq, Kosovo and Germany, said reintegrating into society is the hardest part about being a veteran.

“When I tell them I’m a veteran, it makes people uncomfortable,” the 30-year-old junior history major said. “If I didn’t have people I could relate with, it would have been much harder.”

Over 500 vets are currently enrolled at NIU, Kammes said. In the next few years, 1.5 million vets will begin attending college: “veterans who’ve been at war, with issues that veterans didn’t have before,” he said. Working to make sure they have sufficient assistance will be a top priority for members of the Veterans Club.

“It’s easy for people to support dead vets by making highways and memorials. It’s easy to make statues. It’s a lot more difficult to support living vets,” said John Galan, former president of the NIU Veterans Club. Donations for soldiers and being appreciative of vets’ service are two things civilians can do, he added.

Harris, who’s a 25-year-old senior psychology and political science major, originally went to NIU from 2002 to 2006. She was 18 credit hours short of a degree when she decided to join the Navy.

“I just wanted to help people,” she said.

But after being there just three weeks, Harris broke both of her hips during a workout. She later found out she had a calcium deficiency.

Harris would go on to do administrative work, and later went on to marry a soldier. That’s when she found out how hard life as a military spouse can be. So, back at NIU, Harris’ goal is to one day counsel veterans and their families. In other words: help people.

“I don’t think there are enough resources for counseling veterans,” Harris said, adding, “really, the option isn’t there to be counseled by a veteran.”

Editor’s Note: Day Editor Caitlin Mullen contributed to this article.