Student Veterans of America’s first female president

Juliana Peña, a 25-year-old veteran, was appointed the first female president for Student Veterans of America (SVA) at UTRGV.

According to studentveterans.org, Student Veterans of America is a nationwide organization, “with a network of more than 1,500 on-campus chapters in all 50 states and four countries representing more than 750,000 student veterans. SVA aims to inspire yesterday’s warriors by connecting student veterans with a community of like-minded chapter leaders.”

Peña, a biology freshman, served six years with the Marine Corps. She joined the Marines after graduating from Mission High School in 2013 and hopes that her appointment can inspire other women to keep working in male-dominated areas.

“Honestly, it’s very empowering,” Peña said. “You know, being Latina, we are always told … there are gender norms to what you should … get into. I don’t want to just be what society and, like, the culture in the [Rio Grande] Valley wants us to be.”

UTRGV SVA advocates for student veterans on both campuses. Its goal is to ensure every student veteran successfully transitions into college life and remains successful all the way to graduation.

She joined the organization in Fall 2019 and served as secretary before being appointed president.

During her presidency, Peña would like to improve certain aspects of the organization.

“The organization was catered to just veterans, but a lot of our populations actually are military-affiliated members,” she said. “One thing I do want to incorporate is to make sure that not only veterans are included in this organization, but also the family members.”

Elda Arriaga, assistant director of the Military and Veterans Success Center, said Peña as president will show a different side to who a veteran is to the UTRGV community.

“I think it shows that not only males should be involved in leadership,” Arriaga said. “We’ve never had a female veteran in this leadership place. I think this is big not only for current but for future students … to see how we have a female leader within the SVA.”

She also encourages students to become familiar with the veteran community at the university.

“It’s important to recognize their service,” Arriaga said. “It’s a constant communication amongst our veterans and military affiliate students but it’s also getting to know what’s available for them in the community as well.”