Student Organizations

The Lambda Beta Society is the national honor society for the profession of respiratory care. The purpose of this society is to promote, recognize, and honor scholarship, scholarly achievement, service, and character of students, graduates, and faculty members of the Respiratory Care profession. The society supports professional growth and leadership development through activities and programs at the chapter, regional, and national levels.

Laurel Business Institute started a chapter in June 2011. Membership is available to respiratory therapy students who have completed half of their respiratory care courses. Nominated members must be in the upper twenty-five percent of the graduating class.

Membership benefits include recognition of individual achievement and scholarship, having their name entered into a permanent “Roll of Excellence,” and graduation with honors by displaying the Lambda Beta insignia. Scholarships are also available to members only.

Student Veterans of America or SVA is a coalition of student veteran groups on college and university campuses across the country and is the only unified voice for veterans actively trying to earn their college degrees today.

SVA empowers Yesterday’s Warriors to Become Today’s Scholars and Tomorrow’s Leaders: Thousands of veterans separate from the military each year only to find an overwhelming combination of emotional, financial and cultural obstacles standing between them and a college education. SVA is dedicated to ensuring these veterans do not slip through the cracks on their journey through higher education toward a better quality of life. SVA does this by:

• Developing student veterans groups (Chapters) on college campuses and facilitating communication between them
• Connecting SVA Chapters and schools with resources thereby aiding the veteran’s transition onto campus
• Advocating on behalf of student veterans at the local, state and national levels

SVA’s mission is to provide military veterans with the resources, support and advocacy needed to succeed in higher education and following graduation. SVA is the only veterans group with an on campus model. The SVA model depends on Chapters to achieve this mission locally. Chapters are local peer-to-peer support groups, or student organizations on college campuses with a mission aimed at assisting fellow student veterans. They are member based student led, and student operated.

SVA’s objective is to develop these local Chapters so that those veterans have the peer-support needed to graduate. Studies have shown that peer-support has been linked to better mental health and academic achievement for returning veterans. SVA unifies these groups in a network of other chapters across the country to form mutual bonds of support so they may thrive.

PROGRAMS & SERVICES: SVA has a variety of programs and services to develop and sustain Chapters as well as assist individual student veterans so they may more likely achieve their academic goals. A complete list and description of each program or service SVA provides is listed on our website. Some of SVA’s most popular programs & services are:

• Interactive Website
• Scholarships
• Internship Support Program
• Chapter Grants
• Leadership Institute
• Conferences & Summits

SVA was built by fellow student veteran leaders. The foundation of SVA is the Chapter. Most SVA Chapters are looking for interested student veterans to get involved with their local groups. If you would like to get involved, volunteer or join a chapter, please visit our website to see if there is a chapter at your school or in your community. Individual student veterans may also register online to receive full access to SVA’s programs & services and receive updates on news and events.