A STRONG WORK ETHIC, GROUNDED IN DISCIPLINE, DETERMINATION, AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

I was a Hospital Corpsman in the U.S. Navy and advanced through 5 ranks in just under 8 years of active duty service.  This time in my life was when I learned the most about personal responsibility and accountability, and about being a leader and teammate. 

My work ethic was increased as I learned to work towards a goal or mission, through long hours, duty days, and under pressure and deadlines.  Most jobs that I had to complete meant others were counting on my part for the success of their own.  This was a time I also learned about sacrifice, sacrificing my own wants and needs for those of others or for the greater good of the mission and team.  This work experience also taught me to have an amazing attention to detail.  The work I did required attention to detail in every facet, or life and death could literally have been at stake.  

This was an experience that I shared with a diverse group of people and I learned a lot about the importance of understanding and accepting different cultures and diversity in a work setting.  While on active duty, I deployed to Haiti in 2010 for Operation Unified Response after the earthquake.  This was some of the most arduous and demanding work that had ever been asked of me.  We had mass casualty patients with horrific injuries and a constant influx of patients that needed care.  Despite the amount and type of work, I was able to learn about another culture and learned to appreciate what a different life and population of people live less than 1000 miles off of the Florida coast.  This was my first experience witnessing an extreme level of poverty and need, and it had an impact on me that I will carry the rest of my life.

SKILLS GAINED: Teamwork, Leadership, Cultural awareness and appreciation, Situational awareness, Creative problem-solving, Resilience 

IMPACT: My personal experience on active duty and then as a student veteran has driven me to want to work and improve the student veteran experience for others.  I authored a case study highlighting the need to improve student veteran transfer credit.  That case study can be found below.