DIFFERENT PATHS

Bowdoin’s recent policy of accepting transfer credits from community colleges is expanding access and representation among our student body to include more veterans as well as students older than the eighteen- to twenty-two-year-olds who traditionally make up campus.

DANIEL HENNELLY ’26

“There are a lot of similarities between the military and college,” says Daniel Hennelly, thirty-four, who served eight years in the US Marine Corps. “A small campus and a military base are the same thing. They provide your housing, your food, your community.” Hennelly transferred to Bowdoin from Houston Community College after participating at Harvard in the Warrior-Scholar Project, which offers academic boot camps for veterans, and will graduate from Bowdoin debt-free thanks to Bowdoin’s Marine Corps Scholarship funded by alumni.

ALEXIS BLAKES ’25

After four and a half years in the Army and another four working in IT for Amazon Web Services, Alexis Blakes, twenty-seven, hit a wall. “The work I wanted to do required experience in research, and there was no opportunity to do that at the time,” she says of her decision to pursue a fouryear degree. Like Hennelly, Blake completed the Warrior-Scholar Project at MIT, where she learned about Bowdoin. She transferred from Columbia Basin College in Pasco, Washington.

BERENICE FLORES ’25

“I’ve lived many lives,” says Berenice Flores, who sang in a cover band, performed stand-up comedy, and sold real estate and cars, before continuing her education. Forty-one, she transferred from Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota, where she developed a passion for writing. “The benefit of being older is knowing yourself and what you need.”