University of Arizona hosts veteran academic boot camp

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – The University of Arizona has wrapped up its academic program for military veterans.

The Warrior-Scholar Project partnered with the university to host 10 veterans on campus to do a rigorous crash course on humanities and STEM, all to prepare them for college.

“It helps with the transition. They haven’t been in school for years some of them. So, it’s just kind of helping refresh certain math aspects. We’re learning trigonometry, we’re learning basic math, and it’s building up to physics. We’re learning 1D motion, 2D motion, Newton’s Law. And everything that you would learn in a semester, you’re learning one week,” said Kiel Malate, who attended the boot camp last year and came back this year as a fellow.

The Warrior-Scholar Project has been hosting academic boot camps across the country for free to veterans since 2011.

UA joined the program in 2016.

Veterans can apply to be a part of the program and go through an interviewing process before being placed at one of the camps across the country.

UA faculty taught the classes, starting with humanities classes the first week, and finishing the last week with STEM.

“These kids are resilient, it’s a long process,” Malate said. “One week may just sound like one week, but when you’re up from 8:30 in the morning to 11:30 at night working on PSATs, learning things that most students will learn in like a whole semester. It’s a tough process but everyone’s pushing through.”

Malate said the program is truly helping prepare veterans for the next step in their academic careers.

Which Erick Rivera, a veteran and participant echoed.

“For me, at first before doing this program I was like yeah it’s just going to be like you know, doing college, doing some classes, an easy day. But now, after I went through this program, I have like a more bigger idea,” Rivera said. “Especially for us as veterans, like what to actually expect. That’s coming from, like either this is for you or not, at least you have an idea what it is. And I’m really, again, grateful for that.”

The Warrior Scholar Project has found that 88% of those who complete their boot camp have completed or are on track to earn a college degree.

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