As larger training establishments nationwide more and more spend money on options to assist pupil veterans transition to school life, William & Mary has developed a focused pre-orientation program that facilities pupil veterans’ values and strengths.
Launched in August 2025, the enterprise faculty’s Middle for Navy Transition piloted a weeklong pre-orientation session centered on serving to college students with army expertise establish their values, pursuits and strengths as they make clear the skilled expertise, profession objectives and sense of belonging they hope to construct on campus.
Jonathan Due, govt director of the Middle for Navy Transition at William & Mary, stated practically 20 college students participated within the pilot, together with about six who had been nonetheless on energetic obligation. He famous that what makes the pre-orientation distinct is its emphasis on “reflection, preparation and connection.”
“As a substitute of leaping proper into serving to college students search a brand new skilled id or a brand new profession, we would like them to replicate first,” Due stated. “From there, we focus explicitly on their skilled strengths and use that self-reflection as a basis to assist them join.”
“That gives extra perception into the precise preparation for what comes subsequent and solely then are we prepared to actually dive deep into profession search and software methods,” he added, noting that the establishment has about 250 pupil veterans and 1,700 military-connected college students.
William & Mary’s program is properly timed. A current analysis transient from the Middle for Greater Schooling Coverage and Apply discovered that about 5 % of all undergraduates are active-duty army, reservists, Nationwide Guard members or veterans, but many school programs aren’t designed to fulfill their wants.
The report recognized a number of methods to enhance their experiences, together with clearly outlining program prices and out there help companies, providing peer mentorship applications that join incoming college students with at present enrolled army learners and connecting college students with profession coaches who may help translate army expertise into the civilian workforce.
For Due, addressing pupil veterans’ wants begins with recognizing how deeply army service shapes college students’ values—and centering the pre-orientation program round that basis.
“Having college students replicate on their particular person values, which in lots of circumstances have been deeply formed by their army expertise, helps them carry these values into new contexts and kind totally different skilled relationships,” Due stated.
The pre-orientation mannequin: This system begins with a relationship-building module led by a enterprise faculty professor who makes a speciality of impression administration and can also be a Navy veteran.
“We got here up with some concepts that had been very relationship-driven,” Due stated. “There’s a collection of discussions about how we maintain values as a stimulus for motivation.”
This system then strikes into conversations about pupil autonomy, which Due stated is especially vital for pupil veterans who’re accustomed to a “hierarchical construction” from their army background.
The remaining classes deal with translating army expertise into company tradition, finishing a CliftonStrengths evaluation—a web-based instrument from Gallup that helps people establish and develop their pure skills—and taking part in one-on-one profession teaching.
“It actually orients them to themselves,” Due stated. “We’re instantly introducing them to assets which might be there for them, too, and integrating that in a significant means.”
The takeaway: Due stated an alumnus’s donation, together with extra grant funding, will enable the faculty to proceed and broaden this system within the fall. Deliberate additions embrace extra school and army consultants to guide workouts and reflection, in addition to networking alternatives with alumni who can function job referrals.
In the end, Due stated having a devoted pre-orientation centered on pupil veteran wants is vital for different establishments that serve giant military-connected pupil populations.
“They’re an attention-grabbing group as a result of they’re nontraditional college students,” Due stated. “The important thing precept I’d share is to maintain the scholar veteran expertise itself on the coronary heart of program design.”
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