Among the new transfer students at Pomona College are veterans continuing their academic careers after serving their country in the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve.
The Office of Admissions supports prospective veteran students by offering individualized advising, says Paola Franco, associate dean of admissions and transfer student coordinator.
Over the years, the Office of Admissions has fostered relationships with Education Centers at Southern California military bases, and admissions officers collaborate with partners such as Service to School and the Warrior-Scholar Project.
“As a result,” Franco says, “veteran students who find Pomona as their next home contribute to our campus a perspective that enriches learning for all. They reap the benefits of a world-class liberal arts and sciences education that equips them to continue their lives of impact and service.”
To celebrate Veterans Day, Trevor Bwanika ’28 and Andres Jacobo ’28 share their respective paths to Claremont, plans for their time here and how Pomona is preparing them for the next chapter of their lives.
From sea to Smiley
Trevor Bwanika matured greatly when an ocean separated him from shore.
From March 2020 to March 2022, the Uganda-born, Virginia-raised corpsman worked pediatrics, family medicine, immunization clinics and COVID treatment at a naval hospital in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. After two years in the Tar Heel State, Bwanika was stationed in San Diego, homeport of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70).
On board the aircraft carrier—motto: “Strength from the Sea”—he was one of 50 medical personnel caring for 5,000 sailors.
At sea, Bwanika says, “You can practice as much as the doctor has confidence in you. If you’re really good, you’re able to practice more and get exposed to more things. I really liked that.”
Deployments took Bwanika to the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific.
“It can be challenging being away from family, missing all the big events, holidays,” he says. “Missing your siblings’ birthdays and big milestones in their lives. You have to build a tough skin to be able to break through whatever challenge you’re given, and I learned that.”
After growing accustomed to Southern California while stationed in San Diego, Bwanika applied to Pomona and found the intimate classroom settings resembled the small groups in which he completed his military trainings.
“Pomona best fit my background,” he says.
Bwanika is deciding whether to major in biology or neuroscience, his decision ultimately a matter of which discipline best sets him on his desired path toward medical school. Being a corpsman at sea for so long, he says, “taught me I could care for other people and not get tired of it.”
He’s taking classes in biology, chemistry, calculus, Africana studies, and says faculty “is very caring and open to helping you.”
At 24, Bwanika is the resident “Unc” on campus—his age and lived experiences distinct among his classmates.
“When I was in the Navy, I was with people my age,” he says. “Then I came to Pomona and I’m six years older than the freshmen. It’s fun. It reminds me to not take everything so seriously because I have all this experience. It’s how I ground myself.”
“These freshmen may know something I don’t,” he adds, “and I try to be open minded to that.”
A fortuitous mistake
It wasn’t until Andres Jacobo told a professor at Fullerton College where he had applied that he learned he’d made a mistake.
“Pomona College or Cal Poly Pomona?” the professor asked.
“What’s the difference?” he replied.
Jacobo, a 25-year-old veteran of the Marine Corps Reserve by way of Long Beach, California, intended to apply to the state school in Pomona, but instead applied to the liberal arts college eight miles east. While he knew nothing of the College initially, he liked what he found out—if not his odds of getting in.
“Once I saw the acceptance rate, I said there was no way I was getting in,” Jacobo recalls. “I figured I’d take a gap year. I had a decent job as a mechanic. I wasn’t too stressed out.”
Much to his surprise, he got in, and he’s since made the most of his time on campus.
Jacobo hopes to study international relations and says faculty such as Pierre Englebert, H. Russell Smith Professor of International Relations and professor of politics; Pey-Yi Chu, associate professor of history; Karla Cordova, visiting assistant professor of economics; and Dalia Gómez, visiting assistant professor of Romance languages and literatures, have piqued his curiosity and enriched his classroom experience.
“This school is very much hands-on,” he says. “As long as you’re looking for and trying to get help, professors are there for you. It’s up to you to dictate how you go through this school.”
In addition to faculty, Sefa Aina, associate dean and director of the Draper Center, “has been an amazing resource and person to have by my side,” Jacobo says. “He understands where I come from, and he gets me more than anybody else.”
Jacobo abides by a philosophy he picked up taking classes while in the military that 80% is a passing grade. “Anything less than that,” he says, “you’ve failed.” Such an outlook on higher education elevated him from an admittedly average student in high school to a star scholar in college.
There’s another adage Jacobo picked up in the military.
“The world doesn’t owe you anything,” he says. “If you want something better for yourself, you need to put in the effort. You can’t just expect the world to give you things. You need to do what you need to do to succeed.”
Veterans who are interested in Pomona College can find information on our veterans admissions webpage.