Justin Cole, an Air Force veteran and MIT sophomore, says his perspective on education shifted after experiencing several natural disasters during his nine years of service. He volunteered in the aftermath of the 2013 Black Forest fire and witnessed two Category 5 typhoons in Okinawa, which made him realize the importance of education in addressing climate-related issues.
Cole participated in an intense, weeklong STEM boot camp at MIT in 2023, which reaffirmed his desire to pursue a bachelor’s degree and inspired him to apply to MIT. He transferred in 2024 and is majoring in climate system science and engineering.
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Warrior-Scholar Project
The Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) is a nonprofit organization that offers programming to help enlisted veterans and service members transition from the military to higher education. MIT runs the WSP boot camp every summer, which aims to simulate a week of undergraduate life.
The academic boot camp program is offered at 19 schools nationwide in three areas: business, college readiness, and STEM. MIT joined WSP in 2017 as one of the first three campuses to offer the STEM boot camp.
MIT-WSP Program
The MIT-WSP program is led by Michael McDonald, an associate professor of physics, and Nelson Olivier, a Navy veteran and MBA alumnus. The program includes faculty lectures, problem sets, research projects, and college success workshops.
The schedule is packed from 0845 to 2200, Sunday through Friday, and includes travel times. Scholars also attend daily workshops on topics such as note taking, time management, and applying to college.
Over 120 scholars have attended the MIT-WSP program, with 93 percent going on to attend schools like Stanford University, Georgetown University, and Harvard University. Alumni of the program now work at employers such as Meta, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and Boeing.
McDonald has witnessed a predictable transformation among the scholars, who start off eager but become miserable by Tuesday. However, by the end of the week, they are confident and eager to continue.
Translating Military Experience
McDonald and Olivier believe that the enlisted veteran has a leg up in academics because they have already applied similar skills in the military. They just need to understand the background of why things work, such as translating helicopter repairs to Newton’s laws.
The WSP organization provides alumni, called fellows, to teach college success workshops, provide support, and share their experiences in higher education. Meeting veterans who have made the leap into academia has a multiplier effect on the scholars’ confidence.
Cole recalls meeting veterans who were attending Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard, which made him realize that attending a top university was doable. Former Marine Corps communications operator Aaron Kahler also recalls meeting a veteran PhD student at MIT, which inspired him to pursue his education.
McDonald has made an effort to recruit more MIT veterans to staff the program, including Andrea Henshall, a retired major in the Air Force and a PhD student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Henshall has become increasingly involved in the program, presenting lectures, mentoring participants, and offering tours of the motion capture lab. She finds it inspiring to hear scholars say that they never considered a place like MIT until the boot camp.
At the conclusion of MIT-WSP, scholars receive a challenge coin designed by Olivier and McDonald, which symbolizes the ethos of the unit and serves as a reminder of what’s possible.
The coin features Newton’s laws of motion and the MIT motto “mens et manus” (“mind and hand”). Olivier explains that the coin is a reminder to earn their space and make a significant impact on the human experience.
Kahler keeps the coin displayed on his desk at MIT, where he is now a first-year student, as a reminder of the impact of the Warrior-Scholar Project.
- 93 percent of MIT-WSP scholars have gone on to attend top universities
- 120 scholars have attended the MIT-WSP program since its inception
- 19 schools nationwide offer the WSP boot camp program
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