# @ucberkeleyofficial on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DRDiA9hkgle
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/64635337-ucberkeleyofficial-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/5a876d7c0b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-11-14T23:23:21.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** UC Berkeley (@ucberkeleyofficial) — https://gondola.cc/ucberkeleyofficial

## Caption

Tré Bunker says it took going to UC Berkeley to humble him, a powerful statement from an alum who, before joining the student body in 2015, was deployed five times to Iraq and Afghanistan throughout his decade in the Marine Corps. But that humility was partly tied to his circumstances. 

The once 17-year-old recruit was already 26 when he started as an undergraduate in Middle Eastern Studies, and faced what he calls an “absolutely brutal” transition from soldier to student.

Bunker says his degree choice was influenced by his combat experience and the renown of faculty like Global Studies Lecturer Peter Bartu. “I made it my mission that, no matter what, I wanted to get to Cal,” he says. And he did, thanks to hard work, determination, and a full university-funded scholarship. 

“Cal turned out to be one of the most welcoming places for a veteran I’d ever been,” Bunker says.

He singles out two campus resource centers for helping him thrive: the Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence (CE3) and the Cal Veterans Group. Bunker actually served as both vice president and president of the Veterans Group, which he said had more than 100 members from across the different military branches at the time. Which one had the most representation? “The Marines were running Cal,” he says with a laugh.

After graduating in 2017, Bunker went on to earn a Master’s in Global Studies at Berkeley the following year. He then moved to Madrid, where he taught refugee youth until the pandemic hit. Today, he’s pursuing his MBA in Madrid; after that, he says his goal is to build and grow sustainability projects in the global south.

Even thousands of miles away, Berkeley still follows Bunker, as he’s got a Cal Veterans Group sticker at his desk. He says that it’s a reminder of how much the university honors its servicemember students — and a powerful signal of the life-changing opportunities made possible at UC Berkeley.

#UCBerkeley #ResearchImpact

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## Tags

ucberkeley, researchimpact

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