Henry Sabo '25 and Veteran Atlas

Alumni Office (AO): So, the first question I ask is, can you introduce yourself, your name, your grad year, and where you are now?

Henry Sabo (HS): Yeah. My name is Henry Sabo. I graduated last year in 2025, and right now I'm at the University of Chicago.

AO: And Henry, can you tell me a little bit about how your first year of college is going?

HS: There has never been a dull moment this year. Academically, it is brutal over here. And then, I've also been pledging a frat, which has definitely been keeping my free time occupied. I feel like I'm learning a lot and meeting a lot of interesting people.

AO: That's great. In addition to being a freshman, you also started Veteran Atlas this year. Is that correct?

HS: Yes. Basically, it's a map or directory of veteran-related resources, like veteran-owned businesses, events, support groups, etc. I'm constantly updating it, trying to really encompass everything across the United States. There are a lot more resources than I would have guessed.

AO: Can you share what inspired you to create Veteran Atlas and what keeps you motivated to keep it updated? I know that’s a lot of work.

HS: My dad has been in the Navy as a Commander for more than 20 years. A few years ago, he returned from a deployment to Jordan. Coming back from that deployment was particularly difficult, and he had a hard time finding a community and readjusting to civilian life. On top of that, the resources were all scattered; the VA was chaotic and often completely redundant. So, I decided to do something about it by creating Veteran Atlas.

As for staying motivated, I didn't know anything about data scraping before I started the website. I thought it would be an interesting project to learn, and the momentum of having already gotten this far is what makes me want to continue serving our veterans.

AO: That's great. How do people who are interested in checking out your website access it? And for veterans who want to have a listing, what is the process?

HS: In the first place, you can find it at veteranatlas.com. Secondly, I'm trying to distribute it to different university Offices of Veteran Affairs—right now, we've got it going at the University of Chicago and Loyola University. I also had an article written about it in the Chicago Maroon. If anyone has anything they would like listed, there's a tool on the site that lets them submit it, and I'll upload it manually.

AO: What kind of success have you seen so far? Have you seen groups find each other or events have more people attend because of Veteran Atlas?

HS: I haven't been able to quantify exactly stuff like that yet. We've had a few thousand visitors to the site, made an appearance on KARE 11 News, and received maybe 30 submissions via the tool. We're just getting started. I think, really, there just needs to be more exposure. Right now, I've got about 4,000 things listed, but hopefully that will grow exponentially until it eventually includes everything in the United States.

AO: Thinking about that growth, are there ways that people can help volunteer with the efforts you're working on?

HS: If anybody has some sort of resource or connection that could help me get more exposure, that would be very helpful. And then, obviously, just submitting things that you may know about. Those are really the only things I can think of.

AO: And on the website, are they able to directly submit an inquiry or contact you?

HS: Yeah, there's a "Contact Me" and a submission tool on the website.

AO: Last thing, do you have any special messages for the faculty or staff?

HS: This is unrelated to the actual project, but without the entire English department—and specifically Mr. Lindberg—I would not be able to keep up with the humanities at this school and the level of discussion. I think I was thoroughly prepared, and to be honest, I don't know what I would have done without them.