Same Program,
New Name

By LeNaya Hezel, Chief Programs Officer, Warrior-Scholar Project

October 28, 2025

For years, we’ve described Warrior-Scholar Project’s academic boot camps for enlisted service members and veterans as college-preparatory programs offered in three disciplines: humanities, STEM, and business. Our team is knee-deep in preparations for the summer 2026 academic boot camp season, when we’ll continue to offer three one-week programs, but with a modification. Moving forward, the humanities boot camp will now be called the college readiness boot camp.

Before you yell, “How dare you!” at your computer screen or consider removing your Tocqueville tattoo (real or decal), hear me out! The program itself has not changed, just the name. The college readiness boot camp has the same academic objectives. It still explores the areas of political science, history, the Classics, and writing. And yes, Tocqueville is still a staple text.

To understand how we arrived at renaming our flagship academic boot camp, let’s take a trip down memory lane for a moment, shall we?

Picture it: it’s 2012 in New Haven, Connecticut, where nine enlisted veterans enroll in a one-week academic boot camp taught by Yale University professors, writing instructors, and tutors, and are mentored by veterans and civilians. Fast forward to 2015 and 2020, the STEM and business academic boot camps were introduced to complement the flagship program among academic boot camps offered nationwide. A need arose to differentiate among the three programs, and the original academic boot camp evolved into the humanities program.

Over the years, the admissions team began to notice the challenges of explaining the humanities boot camps to participants, compared with STEM or business. Internally, we began to ask tough questions about our goals for each program to better evaluate and clarify how we talk about these programs to participants and other stakeholders. During this assessment, we came to realize the importance of names–what we call our programs greatly shapes how people make connections with what we do.

So why change the program name if the program content isn’t changing? For starters, the term humanities is a bit of a misnomer that does not entirely capture what we do in the boot camp. Ultimately, the program is interdisciplinary in nature in that it teaches participants how to use political science and historical lenses to analyze texts and interrogate complex concepts, like democracy and freedom. At its core, the program provides participants with the academic tools they need for success in college–foundational skills they can apply to almost every discipline.

In addition, our participants, the majority of whom are first-generation college students, are unsure of what the term humanities means. Whether this is because of national trends or the growing interest in more practical degree fields, our own terminology must reflect what’s represented in contemporary higher education.

One important thing to note is the name change does not imply that STEM and business disciplines are less valued than humanities disciplines. Rather, STEM and business degree fields approach complex problem-solving that requires distinct skills and contexts. Science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines use data analysis and technical skills throughout the scientific inquiry process. Business fundamentals, such as leadership, marketing, and ethics, require an understanding of human experience often found in the humanities disciplines, while utilizing theoretical concepts and technical skills associated with managing a business.

The skills taught in the college readiness boot camp can be a foundational set of skills to build upon in STEM and business-related contexts. Think of it not as an either/or, but rather an ”and” when it comes to building an academic skills toolbox.

Thank you for sticking with me to hear how we landed on the decision to rename the humanities academic boot camp to the college readiness boot camp. It was an intentional decision that centers the key audience we serve, enlisted service members and veterans, in the context of a shifting higher education environment.

Our mission is to make higher education attainable for the military-connected community, equipping them to build their own pathway to achieve their personal, academic, and career goals. We cannot achieve this mission alone, and have learned that we depend on our community of alumni, faculty, instructors, tutors, graduate students, campus stakeholders, and supporters to serve future warrior-scholars. We had each of you in mind as we considered the name change to the college readiness boot camp. We hope that you see how you all play a role in supporting the students we serve to become college-ready by referring enlisted service members and veterans without a bachelor’s degree to complete an interest form and investing in our participants and alumni in a myriad of ways.