Student vets bring more focused mindset to classroom

While not all military veterans see combat, the transition from a military environment to an educational one can still bring its challenges.

Jessie Koyle had a busy time during her service in Afghanistan. She traveled a lot with her colonel on key leader engagements, but that’s not all.

“I was also what’s called a CERP agent, so I traveled around even more doing that,” Koyle said. “(I also was) a public affairs officer.”

Even though she had a taste of higher education learning before her service time, Koyle had a different outlook when she returned to Idaho State University 2 1/2 years ago.

“It was very easy to be focused,” Koyle said. “Before, I wanted to go to the frat parties, wanted to go out and do all these things. This time around, (that feeling) is just not there.”

This is described as a “mission orientation” mindset and is a key difference between traditionally aged college students and veteran students.

Lydia Wilkes, who has researched into teaching practices for student veterans, said this mindset can make it harder for student veterans to relate with peers.

Wilkes said it can cause a feeling of alienation.

“They come to us and they don’t have that same bond with their classmates (as they do with their unit),” she said. “They feel like their civilian peers have no idea what they did and that’s accurate.”

The different mindset also brings a set of strengths to the classroom, too. Student veterans bring more cultural awareness, technical expertise and small group leadership, according to Wilkes.

Misunderstandings with veterans often happen because of military media portrayals. Wilkes said they represent a small portion of the overall veteran experience, and shouldn’t be a basis for generalizations.

ISU has recently been recognized for being a military friendly school.