Interviewed by James Porter
Edited by Ivy Liu
I knew that leaving the military could mean putting on a few pounds, but gaining the freshman fifteen on top of that few wasn’t anything I was looking to do. I knew that this would mean carving out time to exercise and maintaining a balanced diet. That I would need to run a little farther and fight a little harder for what I wanted. But I’ve always done that.
Before I came to Penn I was in the Marine Corps. I enlisted as an aircraft mechanic after high school, though I eventually joined as an administrative specialist. Taking on that role meant shipping out sooner, and I was all for that. The military meant travelling the world. It meant paying for college. It meant directing fate towards a path I desired.
Soon enough, I found myself in Okinawa, Japan. I was promoted to Corporal, and like any other military promotion, I found myself taking courses for preparation. On top of these, I also took online courses through my hometown’s community college. Balancing them was as hard as you’d expect. When field training required me to leave the barracks, often I would print out my homework, laminate it, and then complete it by night with a flashlight and pen. A fair share of jokes came at my expense, but I didn’t mind. Those assignments were a light pointing forward, no different than the flashlight by which I completed them.
It was around this time in my life that I attended a lecture held by a certain sergeant major. To say he inspired me is an understatement; he encouraged me to plan for future success and work tirelessly to get there. His words channeled my work ethic into a lean, goal-oriented framework of thinking. From there I capitalized on every opportunity that came my way: classes, experiences, etc. But perhaps the most meaningful opportunity I gained from the Marine Corps lied within the people I met. My peers and I would push each other to rise earlier, to study harder, to exercise longer. We challenged each other to be a more whole representation of the change we wanted to see in our lives.
And I wanted change. My life before the military wasn’t rosy or sweet. My mother worked long hours to make ends meet. Often I would volunteer to help her clean other families’ apartments, even though that might mean being snickered at by children my own age. As much as I resented those moments, they turned me into the fighter I was in the Marine Corps. They turned me into the fighter I am today.
Because I am a fighter, I know that I must hold myself a higher standard. Keeping a workout routine and balanced diet are just peripheral goals. With a volunteer spirit, leatherneck resilience, and my bearings set skyward, I’ll be able to tackle Penn and the challenges that follow. I’ve carried a fire within me through thick and thin, and I’ll carry it everyday until I can give back to the community I came from. If it’s true that your greatest success starts with your greatest hardship, then these next years will mean reaching higher and higher, fighting what fate might have originally planned for me. And fight I will.