Natalie Frederick always wanted to be an educator, and she’s spent her career supporting students.
For two decades, Frederick has worked to help students reach their academic goals by ensuring they have access to resources, including in her current role as military and VA benefits specialist at the Military and Veteran Success Center. She said it’s special being part of this corner in the campus community.
“It’s such a family here, staff and students,” she said. “(For military connected students), it’s a home away from home.”
Frederick is one of the university employees being honored for 20 years of service at the annual Celebration of Service Sept. 6.
Frederick has been in her job at the Military and Veteran Success Center for two years, but previously worked for the TRIO Educational Talent Search program for 18 years and as a dispatcher for the UNL Police Department.
Prior to joining the university, Frederick was an English teacher, so she’s spent her entire career working with students.
Through TRIO, Frederick worked with Lincoln middle and high school students to help them prepare for college. She would meet with students regularly to discuss their academic and home lives to make sure they were getting what they needed. It also entailed tutoring and even accompanying some students on campus visits.
All her experience demonstrated to Frederick that there are opportunities to help students access helpful resources.
“Sometimes students fall in the cracks,” she said. “Someone might not know they’re struggling, or students are afraid to ask.”
Her work in the Military and Veteran Success Center still focuses on helping students succeed. Frederick aids military connected students in ensuring they have all the paperwork completed and filed to receive VA Education Benefits. These might cover tuition and fees, living expenses, books or a combination, depending on the student’s benefit. Around 650 UNL students currently receive these benefits.
Frederick finds it rewarding to give back to those students because of what they’ve given to others. Some served or are currently serving in the military themselves, while others have a military parent or spouse. No matter their connection, Frederick recognizes the debt they’ve already paid.
“Most of them have traveled around the country, including dependents, and/or have been left home while their parent or spouse was serving,” she said. “They have sacrificed. I feel like we owe it to them.”
Some students feel guilty accessing available assistance, she said. In some cases, it’s because they were not the person who served. She tells people in those situations that the service member worked hard for those benefits. Frederick has a son and a daughter, and she thinks of them in those conversations.
“I say, ‘This is what I would tell my kids,’” she said.
She said making students aware of every service available to them allows them to put more energy into academics.
“They shouldn’t have to deal with financial stress, so they can just focus on being a student,” she said.
Frederick’s father served in Vietnam and later struggled with addiction. He has not been involved in her life since she was young, but she had other family members and people from the community who stepped up to help her mother raise her. Those people showed her the value of that wider support network, she said.
“I had really great teachers, mentors, and other adults in my life looking out for me,” she said. “I always wanted to be an educator. I went to college because other people helped me know how.”
Frederick takes pride in being a first-generation college student and being part of a team that serves that kind of supportive role for Husker students.
“It’s being there to fill in the gap for students I know who might be missing that extra person in their lives supporting them.”
