SC Connecticut News

Yale is one of 20 U.S. colleges and universities hosting a Warrior-Scholar Project summer boot camp for military veterans preparing for college.

By Jim Shelton

June 26, 2024

Just after her economics lecture, and before her entrepreneurial project group meeting, Shequita Curby reflects on her journey outside Harkness Hall. Her path has taken her from Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands to various postings with the United States Air Force in Afghanistan, Qatar, Germany, and across the U.S. It also included a heart attack in 2021 that ended her military career and left her struggling to regain physical and cognitive abilities.

Curby's latest step is at Yale, where she is participating in the Warrior-Scholar Project’s summer boot camp for military veterans preparing for college. For two weeks, a cohort of veterans live on campus, take classes taught by Yale faculty members, and acclimate to student life.

The Warrior-Scholar Project — founded at Yale in 2011 by alumni Christopher Howell ’14, Jesse Reising ’11, and Nick Rugoff ’11 — is running college preparatory boot camps at 20 university campuses around the country this summer. Since its inception, more than 2,250 student veterans have participated in these programs.

“It’s going so much better than I had hoped,” said Curby, who lives in Las Vegas with her husband and daughter. “Being here on the Yale campus has felt like something out of a movie.”

Curby spoke with Yale News about her service career, recovery process, and aspirations for college and a finance career. A condensed version of the conversation follows:

When did you join the U.S. Air Force — and what specialty training did you do?

Shequita Curby: "I enlisted in January 2009, did basic training in San Antonio, and had my first posting at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. I trained in health care services management... Later I moved into resource management... dealing with insurance companies... That’s where I discovered my interest in finance."

Did you get a chance to use these skills in your overseas deployments?

Curby: "I did force protection on Bagram Air Force Base... hospital administration work during my deployment to Al Udeid Air Base..."

What were the circumstances surrounding your medical emergency?

Curby: "I was stationed in Germany... My husband said ‘Let’s take the stairs,’ but I wasn’t able to answer him... A train conductor named Tim... an American named Charlie... they did CPR on me... approximately 30 minutes without consistent oxygen getting to my brain..."

It also meant you had to leave the military earlier than expected. How was that adjustment?

Curby: "I just wanted to get back to myself… It’s very hard to accept something you don’t even have a precise memory of…"

How did the Warrior-Scholar Project fit into your plan?

Curby: "A friend told me about it… I hadn’t been able to test my cognitive ability… I took an online WSP humanities program… experienced headaches… but it got me ready…"

How has this experience helped you?

Curby: "It has boosted my confidence as a student… honestly? It’s really got me thinking about coming back to Yale for a graduate degree."