Princeton University Helps Military Vets Adjust To College Life

PRINCETON, NJ — An intensive two-week program being held at Princeton University is designed to help military veterans make the transition from the military to higher education. To ease the transition, the Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) is hosting an intensive two-week academic boot camp at Princeton University now through June 24, WSP announced.

The Warrior-Scholar Project coordinates immersive academic preparation courses for enlisted military veterans of any skill level at America’s top universities. The program is designed to help military veterans develop and rediscover the skills and confidence necessary to successfully complete four-year undergraduate degrees.

Because veterans are non-traditional students with unique experiences distinguishing them from their college peers, WSP also uses the boot camps to help prepare participants for the emotional and cultural adaptations required to succeed in a higher education setting.

“We are proud to host a Warrior-Scholar Project Academic boot camp at Princeton University for the 2018 year,” WSP Executive Director Dr. Sidney Ellington said. “The program at Princeton will tap into the immense potential of Post-9/11 veterans and reduce their obstacles to success by addressing veterans’ misperceptions about college and building their confidence through an intense academic reorientation.”

The program launched in 2012 at Yale University with nine participants. It has since expanded to an additional 16 top schools, including Princeton, expects to host more than 245 veterans at boot camps across the country this year. In addition to Princeton and Yale, WSP graduates have gone on to enroll at top schools including Cornell and Harvard.

Each WSP boot camp is run by a team of student veterans and taught by university professors and graduate students. An intensive syllabus composed of both classic and modern scholarly works guides participants as they learn how to frame their ideas in an academic context, think critically, and formulate scholarly arguments. Participants not only learn the subject-matter material; they learn how to learn.

“Last year’s experience with hosting the Warrior-Scholar Project at Princeton was as rewarding for our faculty and staff as it was for the scholars who studied and lived on campus,” Princeton University Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity Michele Minter said. “The talent, determination and diverse experiences the participants brought to the experience makes me confident that they will succeed in their college careers and enrich any campus they commit to in the future.”

“The experience I had at Princeton gave me a foundation to build the rest of my collegiate career on. Each veteran who enters the program should walk away knowing they have the ability to enter future studies with a newfound sense of confidence and success,” said Jacob Dolak, a 2017 alumnus.

WSP funders and private donors cover the entire cost of the program for participants, excluding travel. Student veterans attending Princeton University boot camp will reside in university housing and attend
lectures in classrooms on campus, where they will have access to Princeton's outstanding faculty and academic support resources.

To learn more about the program, visit www.warrior-scholar.org.

Patch file photo