The Robert and James Wright Center for Non-Traditional and Veteran Students, located in Royce Hall, is preparing to host the grand opening on April 23.

The Wright brothers were both alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

The Robert and James Wright Center hosted an open house on Jan. 30, but the grand opening will offer a veterans ceremony and James Wright will speak in front of Royce Hall at 11:30 a.m.

The grand opening will offer a tour of the new center, catered by UW-Platteville Catering Services with a Meal Ready to Eat theme.

MREs are food items that veterans have eaten while in service.

The tour and meal will run from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.

The Wright Center’s goal is to assist non-traditional students with making a successful academic and social transition to the UW-Platteville.

The Center offers programs to help with study skills and technology, and it can potentially provide a home for a growing community.

It also houses the Veterans Club.

“The Wright center is a great space for veterans to get away to a quieter place to meet other veterans,” Veterans Club President Austin Dietzel said. “It provides a comfortable environment for a special community to discuss current, future and past veteran issues.”

“The Veterans Club was reconstituted in 2006. We have been asking for a Veterans Center [for] the last eight years,” adviser and Criminal Justice Department Chair Thomas Caywood said. “This should be a place where veterans can study and relax and find out about veteran benefits.”

“We found out through working with a focus group that our non-traditional students are looking for an orientation that meets more of their needs, like ways for them to connect and feel like a part of our UW-Platteville community and meet more non-traditional students,” Program Manager Sandie Brick-Margelofsky said.

There around over 450 identified non-traditional students at UW-Platteville, while many more remain unidentified.

The grand opening will be a beneficial function for non-traditional students to attend and meet other non-traditional students.

Brick-Margelofsky and her crew are going to organize a Veterans Week event instead of a single event next semester.

At UW-Platteville, Veterans Week will be the week of Nov. 10-14.

To learn more, visit the website www.uwplatt.edu/non-traditional-and-veteran-students or check out the “Veterans Club,” a UW-Platteville Facebook group.