{"id":2010,"date":"2025-05-07T14:51:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=2010"},"modified":"2025-05-08T11:00:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:00:25","slug":"jccc-alum-josh-youngs-story-turning-opportunity-into-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/05\/07\/jccc-alum-josh-youngs-story-turning-opportunity-into-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"JCCC Alum Josh Young\u2019s Story: Turning Opportunity Into Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Congressman Derek Schmidt (R-KS; left) and Josh Young (right) when he was awarded the Kosovo Campaign Medal.\u00a0\u00a0(Photo provided by: Josh Young)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Josh Young served 14 years as military police in the Air Force. When he retired in 2012 due to PTSD, he used his Veterans Affairs (VA) educational benefits to go into higher education for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m from Kansas City originally. I’m like a fifth generation KC, Kansas. So even growing up, I knew about JCCC,\u201d Young said. \u201cI went away in the service from 1998 to 2012. Then I got out. And came back home and I didn’t know what to do, so I took like a whole year off. But then I had, you know, educational benefits just sitting there waiting to be used. So I figured, I lived in the Overland Park area at the time, so I said, well, I\u2019ll just start going to school at JCCC.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Going to college for the first time at 35 was a little daunting, but Young credits the JCCC Veteran and Military Student Resource Center for helping him through the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Veteran’s Office, they were phenomenal then, and I’m sure they’re just even better now, but they helped me out with the process because I had never enrolled in college,\u201d Young declared. \u201cI took classes when I was in the military, but they were like military classes. But I’ve never taken civilian classes at all. So it was kind of intimidating even for a combat vet who’s been through a lot. Trying to go to college, it was very intimidating to me, but they helped me out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Young started taking college credits at JCCC in 2013, without really knowing which field he wanted to go into.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI could have started at the University of Kansas straight away, but I thought I’ll start small, knock out all the general electives,\u201d Young said. \u201cAnd then once I started getting a few classes, I took the Introduction to Social Work class, that’s what got me thinking about going to KU for social work.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He credits a very special teacher for helping him discover his interest for social work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve always been a helpful person,\u201d Young declared. \u201cI always liked helping people. Being a cop in the military, I consider that a helpful position. But when I met, her name is Carla Vause, she was a licensed clinical social worker. She just came in and had the Intro to Social Work class for those of us that were even interested in it or thinking about it. She would tell us all about it. She sent us on, like, field trips and real-world experiences. And she was just an awesome lady. Unfortunately, I found out she passed away a year or two ago. But yeah, Carla Vause, she was the main factor.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Young graduated from JCCC in 2016, and transferred to KU, where he got his Bachelor\u2019s degree in social work in 2018. In 2020, he got his Master\u2019s in social work from Park University. Today he is getting his Doctorate of Education with a concentration in organizational leadership at Rockhurst University.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe VA, they realized they made a mistake because I used the VR and E, Veteran’s Readiness and Employment, program while I was here [at JCCC], which is because I’m \u2018disabled\u2019,\u201d Young said. \u201cSo that opens you up to the VR and E. The VA said they used the wrong set of money. So they reinstated all my benefits. So a couple of years ago I got the notice that I had four years worth of benefits left. So I didn\u2019t want them to go to waste. So I decided to go to Rockhurst and get my Doctorate in Education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Between his degrees, Young worked at a veterans\u2019 hotline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI went to work for the Veterans crisis line, which was a telework job at my house and the intellectual side of me said \u2018Well, I can help fellow vets with their PTSD issues while not being affected myself,\u2019\u201d Young said. \u201cBut after six months of doing that job, I realized it was starting to affect me even though I tried not to have it affect me, so I stopped that job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though this experience affected him, Young, who calls himself a \u201cprofessional student\u201d still wants to help his fellow veterans after he graduates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy ultimate goal is to help veterans. When you’re in social work and you get your Bachelor\u2019s and your Master\u2019s, you do practicing, like an internship and both of mine were with veterans organizations,\u201d Young declared. \u201cAnd that’s when I found that I really love helping fellow vets, and that’s where I get my most joy. And I think that’s my life calling. So hopefully when I get my Doctorate of Education, I\u2019m hoping I can use that and get into a career with the VA or\u00a0 like the Department of Air Force, because I miss being around veterans. And I just miss helping fellow veterans. That’s the end goal, is to get a job where I can help veterans.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Young has a message to share with others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMainly just let people know that no matter where you start out, you can start out being dirt poor,\u201d Young said. \u201cAs long as you make the proper life choices and have a positive attitude and just stay focused and do whatever [it takes]. This is a great country and a lot of times it takes people from other countries to come here to realize it. So just let people know that America is a good country and take advantage while you can. You can accomplish whatever you want in this world as long as you stay focused and make great choices.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Young will graduate with his Doctorate of Education in May 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy ultimate goal is to help veterans. When you’re in social work and you get your Bachelor\u2019s and your Master\u2019s, you do practicing, like an internship and both of mine were with veterans organizations,\u201d Young declared. \u201cAnd that’s when I found that I really love helping fellow vets, and that’s where I get my most joy. And I think that’s my life calling. So hopefully when I get my Doctorate of Education, I\u2019m hoping I can use that and get into a career with the VA or\u00a0 like the Department of Air Force, because I miss being around veterans. And I just miss helping fellow veterans. That’s the end goal, is to get a job where I can help veterans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[287],"ppma_author":[158],"class_list":["post-2010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-josh-young"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/05\/IMG_6279-2.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/baptiste-raffin\/","display_name":"Baptiste Raffin"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Featured<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Featured<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Josh Young<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Josh Young<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2025","modified":"Updated on May 8, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2025 2:51 pm","modified":"Updated on May 8, 2025 11:00 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":158,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"baptiste-raffin","display_name":"Baptiste Raffin","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Baptiste","last_name":"Raffin","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/05\/IMG_6279-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2010"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2018,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions\/2018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2010"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}