A program that aims to make the transition from the military to college a little easier for United States veterans will return to Syracuse University this summer.

The Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP), founded in 2012 at Yale University, offers weeklong programs from May to September for military veterans looking to transition to a four-year college.

Started by three students at Yale, WSP’s goal is for veterans to have an easier time acclimating to life in college, said Sidney Ellington, the executive director for the Warrior-Scholar Project.

Ellington, a retired veteran commander of the U.S. Navy, said he was attracted to the project’s goal of giving veterans the skills they need to succeed.

“These veterans get to spend a week at the campus, be with professors in a classroom, write papers, stay in the dorms and eat in the dining halls,” he said. “The idea is that they will come out of this program with a better understanding of the college experience, a higher level of confidence and skills to set them up for success.”

Piragash Swargaloganathan, an active duty member of the Navy from Sri Lanka, said he found out about the program through the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ Facebook page. After researching, applying and attending WSP’s boot camp at SU last summer, he has just completed his first semester in a pre-med program.

“This program really helped show me what to expect when I go to college and how to excel,” he said. “Education is a tool to learn more about yourself and society. It’s empowering. I feel like I’m more ready now to go to medical school.”

Sarah Tolley, a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard — previously the Army Reserves —  was in the summer 2015 program at SU. She is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology with a minor in nutritional science with the hopes of earning a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in public health. Tolley found out about the program when she met Gina Bartolomeo, director of organizational development at WSP.

“This program has helped round me out as a student,” Tolley said. “I’m very thankful for WSP and all they have done for me. They’ve helped push me to want to go to graduate school.”

WSP takes all veterans without a bachelor’s degree and helps give them exposure to undergraduate study while paying for everything except travel, Bartolomeo said.

There are currently 12 campuses nationwide that offer classroom space and access to their dining halls and dorm facilities to WSP, said Ellington. This coming summer, there will be 235 veterans in the program at campuses across the country, including SU, Harvard University, Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Stanford University will begin its partnership with the program in 2017.

“Post-9/11 veterans have an immense degree of untapped potential to succeed in higher education institutions and to progress on to successful careers,” Ellington said in a press release. “Yet college can be a significant challenge. … Our boot camps address veterans’ misperceptions about college and build their confidence through an intense academic reorientation.”

The WSP program will be held at SU from July 9–17.

Published on February 2, 2016 at 10:06 pm

Contact Amanda: alsilves@syr.edu