Student veterans joined with community members to honor troops serving overseas Wednesday as part of a University of Minnesota appreciation day funded by a $100,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation. The grant âÄî awarded to 10 colleges in the United States âÄî recognized the UniversityâÄôs University Veterans ServicesâÄô existing veteran resources as being some of the best in the nation. A small portion of the grant went toward the third annual Student Veterans Appreciation Day . The majority of the rest of the money will fund new internships and scholarships for veterans. Mary Koskan, director of One Stop Student Services , said the University received the money because of its pioneering student veterans services. The funds will allow UVS to âÄúcontinue enhancing thingsâÄù within the program. âÄúIâÄôd say we were one of the first [to have a Student Veterans Appreciation Day],âÄù Koskan said. âÄúThey [Wal-Mart] said they were giving us this [money] because of the program we already had in place, and the initiatives we had implemented,âÄù she said. Other colleges often call the UniversityâÄôs veteran services offices in Fraser Hall to learn how to implement their own similar programs, Koskan said. WednesdayâÄôs event costed $11,000 and was funded by a number of grants. It drew about 700 veterans, ROTC students and passersby, dramatically more than the previous two years because the event was held in the Great Hall of Coffman Union, which sees more traffic than the previous locations of the Northrop Plaza and the Armory , said Chris Holbrook , spokesman for SVA. âÄúIt went really well,âÄù Holbrook said. The day-long event included artwork by a Vietnam veteran, free lunch and a resource fair for student veterans. Attendees viewed video messages from soldiers serving overseas, as well as being able to record messages to send overseas. The University was one of the first to survey returning veterans about what could be improved about their college experience, Koskan said. The survey was administered as a surge of veterans began returning to the United States four years ago. âÄúWe could see the men and women returning from serving overseas and we just knew we needed to kind of gear up for this new population that was going to expand,âÄù Koskan said. Survey results showed the veterans felt unappreciated and uncomfortable on campus, she said. University Veterans Services and the Student Veterans Appreciation Day were created in response to this discrepancy. Koskan said other colleges around the country began to follow suit in making more resources available for student veterans. She and Carin Anderson , One Stop academic support resources coordinator, also produced online seminars on how other schools can provide similar services. Koskan said she began deliberating uses of the money with campus representatives and student veteran groups in December 2008. From there, Koskan and Amelious Whyte, chief of staff to the vice provost for student affairs, narrowed the choices down to three uses of the money: internships, scholarships and the Student Veterans Appreciation Day. Internships were valued up to $1,800 and were designated for 11 qualifying student veterans each semester through summer 2010. This money serves as a stipend for the students during their internships, Koskan said, adding that students were free to choose from available internships on the UniversityâÄôs GoldPass employment database. The $1,000 scholarships were awarded to 14 student veterans this fall and 14 more will be awarded for spring semester.