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Army Vet, LPS Student Lands Legislative Fellowship

Dan Snedden

After serving in the United States Army for eight years, Daniel Snedden trained his sights on completing his undergraduate degree. Never one to go small, though, Snedden wasn’t content to simply attend class and do his assignments.

He applied for a highly competitive national legislative fellowship awarded jointly by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Student Veterans of America. And this spring, Snedden is one of ten recipients chosen from among candidates across the country.

The VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship is a semester-long academic experience that involves research, action, reporting and advocating on behalf of one of several veterans’ issues.

During his fellowship this spring, Snedden is preparing and presenting a research paper to the entire North Carolina congressional delegation about the impact of budget sequestration on military readiness.

He will also develop a community action plan to advocate for veterans in the Triangle area. “I’m developing an evidence-based legislative solution to help prevent future service members and their families from suffering the negative consequences of federal budget sequestration,” he said.

Snedden anticipates one of the highlights of his semester-long fellowship will come when he attends the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., where he’ll sit in on a session of the Joint Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Snedden will graduate this spring through the college’s Leadership in the Public Sector program that supports students in finishing their degrees after being away from the classroom due to military service or other circumstances.

“The LPS program’s knowledgeable, top-notch faculty and high quality courses have given me the ability to develop and present a legislative solution to the policy problem I researched,” he said.