Comfort Zone
Other colleges have strived to provide
learning environments where veterans
feel comfortable opening up about their
experiences and relating them to what
they learn in the classroom.
Last year, a group of administrators
and faculty at Bismarck State College
(BSC)—a two-year institution in Bismarck, N.D., that also offers bachelor’s
degrees—met to discuss how best to
serve the school’s nearly 200 veterans.
One idea that emerged—classes solely
for veterans or active-duty military—
sparked enough interest to warrant
further research, including input from
North Dakota’s National Guard, with
whom BSC has a partnership.
“We recognized that veterans are a
cohort with distinctive life experiences
and that there might be some benefit
in allowing them to attend academic
classes together,” says Larry Skogen,
BSC’s president and a retired military
officer. The worldly experiences of
returning soldiers are not necessarily
shared by the nonsoldier population.
By grouping these students in classes
with other veterans, the feeling was
that they might be inclined to more
freely express themselves. “We thought
student veterans might open up more,
which could be cathartic for them,”
explains Skogen.
Positive initial findings prompted
the college to move forward with the
program. This fall, BSC will introduce
a freshman composition course solely
for returning veterans or soldiers on
active duty who prefer the cohort-only
environment.
BSC isn’t the only place trying
new approaches. Two years ago, the
Wounded Warrior Project created
TRACK, its education program for
returning veterans. The program provides veterans-only classes at Florida
State College, which awards associate
degrees.
“We listened to feedback from
returning veterans, who said they’d
feel more comfortable in classes
surrounded by other veterans,” says
TRACK Director Jennifer Silva, herself
a West Point graduate. “They felt some-
one in the class had their back.”
Silva says the prospect of veterans-
only classes is a significant reason many
veterans relocate to Jacksonville, Fla.,
to enroll in TRACK’s 12-month pro-
gram, adding, “Veterans-only classes
can be a confidence builder.”
New Skill Sets
Though veterans enroll in college under a unique set of circumstances, their
ultimate goal really is no different from
that of other students. They want the
skills necessary to achieve long-term
career success in a changing economy—
one that might look far different than
the one they knew before shipping off
to war.
That’s what Christine Gillespie,
assistant vice president for continuing
education and workforce development
at Bucks County Community College
(BCCC) in Newton, Pa., has attempted
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