Military Academies – Page 4 – Donna McAleer

Honored Role Series (Part 6): Maj. Mindy Kimball – Shooting for Stars

Published on December 11, 2009

This is the sixth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series.

Pondering science, space, and astronomy inspires US Army Major Mindy Kimball, because she has long dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Many astronauts begin their space quests in the military, which is where Mindy hopes her quest is beginning as well.

Mindy grew up in a military family, attending Vanden High School at Travis Air Force Base in California. As the daughter of a retired Air Force officer and granddaughter of a retired Army Air Corps officer, Mindy understood and embraced the military and its associated discipline. Serving in the Armed Forces were initial steps in her trajectory into space travel and exploration.

Honored Role Series (Part 5): Hae-Sue Park – Getting Out of the Comfort Zone

Published on December 4, 2009

This is the fifth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series.

When Liet. Col. Hae-Sue Park retired from the Army two years ago, the most common questions she received from friends, “I can’t believe you retired. Do you have any regrets? What are you going to do?”

Although she loved the challenges of her 20-year Army career, she wanted to pursue a new adventure and a new life. Park said,

“I’m a believer in creating my own destiny and re-inventing oneself.” Executing on of the most valuable lessons she learned as an Army signal officer, Park continued, “Know the cut off for good ideas, and identify your end state. I felt a “twang” leaving our Army in the middle of a war but as the Chief of Staff of the Army reminded us often, this is the NEW normal, so get on with it.” Given this new normal, Park said there really is no optimal time to retire.

Honored Role Series (Part 4): Jen Boggs – US Soldier turned UN Peacekeeper

Published on November 20, 2009

This is the fourth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series.

“It is amazing how more alike we are than we are different,” said Jen Boggs, Coordination Officer in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping at the United Nations. “The vast majority of people from all backgrounds want the same things: to live in a safe society that provides a system of justice, to know that their children will have a better left than they did, and to have a voice in the world.” Jen should know. She has worked extensively in places such as Korea, Bosnia, Hungary, Italy, Sudan, Iraq, Haiti, Cote d ‘Ivoire, and Liberia as a military officer and as a UN peacekeeper.

Honored Role Series (Part 3): Maj. Stephanie Ahern – Soldier, Scholar, and Mother

Published on November 13, 2009

This is the third installment in the weekly Honored Role Series.

Before kindergarten Stephanie Ahern drafted her life plan; graduate high school, attend a good college, earn a masters degree and then a doctorate, like her father a metallurgical engineer, work for a year or two and than get married. That is as far as she got. Today Ahern, 36, a major is the US Army, accomplished precisely what she set out to do.

Honored Role Series (Part 2): Becky Kanis – Armed Service and Social Service

Published on October 29, 2009

This is the second installment in the weekly Honored Role Series.

As a junior high student in Franklin, Tennessee, Becky Kanis remembers the excitement and awe of fellow parishioners when they learned a young woman from St. Philip’s Catholic Church received an appointment to a service academy. Carol Anderson, a high school senior and St. Philip’s parishioner was entering West Point that summer.

Becky Kanis was in 8th grade when she first met Carol and learned of West Point, the military college in New York. As the eldest of seven children, Becky’s parents insisted on two things: she had to attend college, and she had to find a way to pay for it. West Point offered full scholarships in return for five years of active duty military service.

Honored Role: A weekly series about role models

Published on October 23, 2009

Between 1980 and 2008, 3,245 women graduated from West Point and have served selflessly in the Nation’s armed forces. Most of them, whether or not they still wear the uniform, are ordinary women with extraordinary stories of perseverance and integrity. They are soldiers and wives, mothers and daughters. They are doctors, lawyers, teachers, clergy and entrepreneurs. They are athletes and artists, cancer survivors and coaches. And they are all volunteers.

Honored Role Series (Part 1): Odessa Maxwell — An inner journey looking outward

Published on October 23, 2009

This is the first installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. Odessa Maxwell is the story of a soldier turned poet. A study of complexities…

Character and Composition Matter

Published on September 22, 2009

In the month of August, both Forbes Magazine and US News & World Report ranked West Point as American’s Best College in each of their respective annual rankings. The rank and follow-on accolades are tribute to a national treasure – the United States Military Academy. There has been both praise and criticism of the methodology used to calculate this year’s results. The primary criticism being that students of the federal military academies receive a free education, which allows them to graduate debt free in comparison to the majority of other university students.

Tag: Military Academies