Veterans' Initiative

During the past decade, more than a million veterans have returned from deployment overseas. Many of them face physical and emotional challenges that make transitioning back to civilian life particularly daunting, sometimes leading to isolation. Research shows that 88% of veterans drop out of college in their first year and only 3% ultimately graduate. Many choose not to start college for fear of failing, and the reality that they will be required to pay back Veterans Administration benefits if they do not finish the classes.

Established in 2015, the Clemente Veterans’ Initiative (CVI) invites students to renew their sense of purpose through deep engagement with the humanities. Exploring questions of civic duty, sacrifice, moral injury, and changed relationships, CVI offers veterans a chance to place their personal experience within a broader perspective. It helps them connect their military experience with their civilian lives, creating a critical sense of community and continuity. By presenting an opportunity to engage intellectually with a community of peers facing similar challenges, the Clemente Veterans’ Initiative also lays the foundation for further study. 

Clemente came at a very low point in my life. It kept me focused on something other than my circumstances and fears. The confidence I've built and the connections I've made have allowed me to complete two fellowships and a yearlong national service to AmeriCorps. I've found employment, and I am enrolling in a bachelor’s completion program. I owe all of that to Clemente.

Let's face it, veterans suffer much mental stress, injury and heartache. Clemente seems to offer veterans a place to start moving through their emotions with a guided curriculum. They are able to get out of their heads and into other valuable forms of thought. They are able to put some of their stuffed frustration and shame into words through pen and paper or paintings or discussion. I believe Clemente exposes veterans to talents, skills, and desires they may not have recognized in themselves.

The secret magic in this program is that there is soul. We get in touch with ourselves on a deeper personal level and although some of us may feel like fragments or pieces, we use language to once again find or embrace our identities, who we are.



This program has helped me start to learn again. I have a Traumatic Brain Injury and learning has been very challenging for me. I feel like the nerve endings in my brain have started growing again..