Archive: Around Town

For some military veterans, the first day of school at a new college or university is as challenging as a deployment to a foreign country. Immersion in a new culture and reintroduction to a demanding academic environment can make the transition from military to higher education difficult. To ease the transition, the Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) is hosting an intensive weeklong academic boot camp at Cornell University beginning July 23, 2016.

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 theboot 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 Cornell University for the 2016 year," said Dr. Sidney Ellington, Executive Director of WSP. "The program at Cornell University will tap into the immense potential of Post-9/11 veterans and reduce obstacles to success, addressing veterans' misperceptions about college and building their confidence through an intense academic reorientation."

WSP launched its first program at Yale University in 2012 with nine participants. Since then, WSP has expanded to encompass 12 top schools, including Cornell University, and is on track to host more than 200 veterans at boot camps across the country in 2016. In addition to Cornell University, WSP graduates have gone on to enroll at top schools including Yale University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Chicago.

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.

Cornell University has a university-wide commitment to veterans through the Veterans Colleague Network Group, the Trailblazers Program at the Office of Academic and Diversity Initiatives, and veteran student organizations throughout campus and other partnerships at Cornell.

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