What has your life been like since leaving Southeastern? What do you do for a living? And have you married and/or had children?
Upon graduating from Southeastern, I joined the Navy. I retired after 20 years and served onboard five ships — the USS Nimitz CVN-68, USS George Washington CVN-73, USS Iwo Jima LHD-7, USS Wasp LHD-1 and the Cruiser USS Leyte Gulf CG-55. I also served at the WHCA (White House Communications Agency) for five years. After 20 years, I retired and I spent five years as a life enhancement manager at an assisted living facility in Washington, D.C. I presently am working at a landscaping nursery. I am also a volunteer at the Maryland Veterans Museum as a docent on the weekends.
What do you remember most about your time at Southeastern and working in journalism and/or student publications?
I remember every week wondering how the heck we were going to meet our deadline and then feeling like we were on top of the world for pulling it off. Working for The Lion’s Roar brought together so many gifted writers, and we learned the precision of our craft from Mr. Vic Couvillion. I was working but I felt like I owed the newsroom for the experience, and that made me want to work harder.
Give me your back story. How did you wind up at Southeastern and interested in working with student publications?
I wound up at SLU simply because LSU was too big for me at the time. The first introduction to student publications was a class I had with Dr. Mirando. For every statement or view the class had, he challenged us to prove it. I didn’t have the patience, and it was exasperating, but he made me change my outlook on the importance of truth and where the future of journalism was headed. Meeting Dr. Mirando and the journalism students stirred my interest in student publications.
What would you say is the biggest thing you learned while at Southeastern?
I learned it does not matter the size of where you are that matters. It’s the amount of time and effort that solidifies its’ value and worth.
Southeastern Student Publications Alumni 