CU Denver mentoring program helps veterans go from Boots to Suits

Cathy Beuten | CU system

The transition from military service to the classroom can be tough.

But the Office of Veteran Student Services’ expanded Boots to Suits program at the University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus can help. The program now not only pairs veterans with mentors in the business community, but also peer mentors to help them adjust to the classroom.

“The peer mentor program provides personalized student support, helping student service members, veterans and dependents plan their academics, and find tutoring, counseling and experiential learning,” said Patrick Browne, director of the Office of Veteran Student Services.

“Mentors in this program are upperclassmen trained to help, and have practical experience with a wide range of student issues and support resources.”

Student issues include those faced by peer mentor Adam Clapham, a Navy Veteran and field medical service technician. Clapham, center in photo, has weathered a great deal of tumult in his college career: he attended CU-Boulder in 2000-01, didn’t do well, and was put on scholastic suspension. After working low-end jobs, such as waiting tables and construction, he joined the Navy. After six years in the Navy with a deployment to Afghanistan he decided he wanted to go to college again.

“Once he came to campus in the fall of 2013 he experienced a bunch of problems and was assigned a mentor,” Browne said. “Just getting out of the Navy, he was behind in the process of starting school.”

Among many other things, Clapham’s mentor advocated for him to attain the full benefits for the GI Bill, employment in student services and even helped him get caught up in math. 

“Without the help on my mentor it would have been very difficult for me to navigate the process, and I believe without his help I would have ended up at a community college or something,” Clapham said.

Clapham’s GPA is has increased each semester from .0352 in from his first time around to 2.565; his goal is to bring it to at least 3.0 by this semester. And now he’s paying it forward. Clapham is a peer mentor himself and was recently chosen as the Peer Advisor for Veteran Education (PAVE) student of the month.

CU Denver is one of 13 schools across the country that works in collaboration with the PAVE program, Browne said. There were more than 1,050 Veterans and 200 spouses and dependents on benefits at CU Denver in the 2014-15 academic year. More than 250 new students enrolled last fall.

How Boots to Suits peer mentoring works

• Junior, senior and graduate-level student veterans apply to be mentors and receive training to prepare them for the role.
• All incoming student veterans are matched with mentors according to area of study, extracurricular interests and other criteria.
• Once mentees have agreed with their assigned mentor on a contact schedule, they are delivered academic; campus life and education benefit reminders. 
• Assigned mentors are available during breaks and between semesters for tours, benefit questions, help planning class schedules, or any other support a mentee might require.
• Mentors conduct veteran-specific student orientation.