MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 7 (September)
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JENNIFER K. YANCEY
Master Sergeant, U.S. Army
Office of the Chief of Public Affairs-Northeast
Jennifer K. Yancey, a master sergeant in the U.S. Army, knows what it means to work hard and multitask. She attended the City University of New York (CUNY) full time, while fulfilling her military obligations.
“One thing the Army and college have in common is that you get to meet people from all walks of life,” she said. “Different backgrounds, different interests, different beliefs and convictions. I enjoyed listening to the students talk about their future, especially the seniors. They’re ready to take that enthusiasm and drive to the next level.”
For Yancey, the next level is earning a master’s degree while she applies her skills in the Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs- Northeast. “Truthfully, my career field in the Army has nothing to do with what I studied in college,” she admitted. “I am grateful for the opportunity, nonetheless. Having a degree will make me more marketable after the Army. Upon returning to college, I realized there was so much more to learn. It motivated me to finally make up my mind and pursue a master’s.”
Yancey experienced CUNY from two different angles: before serving in the Army and while engaged in active duty. “There were no scheduling conflicts because I had no additional responsibilities,” she recalled. “I wasn’t working nor did I have a family to support. While assigned in New York City, I returned to complete my educational requirements for my bachelor’s degree.”
Now she is a “full-timer,” leaving work early to go to class, or going to class and then going back to work. As for her interests, she is particularly enthusiastic about courses in the humanities and social sciences. “My passion is writing,” she noted. “So I enjoyed the literature courses at CUNY. I also enjoyed African-American studies. My favorite classes were probably psychology of criminal behavior and organized crime in America. I didn’t just want to learn about the law—I also wanted to take a look into the criminal psyche.”
Being able to learn from a distance was a key factor in Yancey’s educational success. “The convenience was a godsend,” she said. Recalling the pressures and deadlines of her undergraduate days, Yancey admitted her focus on the end result was a guiding force. “There was a 12-year gap between my joining the Army and returning to school, and within that time I learned numerous ways of responding to challenge,” she said. “I didn’t really view this as pressure. I welcomed the challenge of juggling school and my everyday duties. I focused on the brass ring—my bachelor’s degree. That was my crowning achievement of 2008. I sacrificed time, sleep and other personal pleasures—including a missed trip to Puerto Rico!—to get to that point. No one was going to do it for me. You don’t get if you don’t give.”
In considering some of the challenges facing military students today, Yancey recognized the culture adjustments that need to be made when transitioning from the battlefield to the classroom. “The military is structured: you do certain things a certain way at certain times. To be a senior noncommissioned officer, sitting in a classroom with students as young as some of the soldiers I’ve had can be unnerving. Many aren’t that focused. They have sidebar conversations, text and don’t pay attention. I had to remember that they were my peers, not my soldiers, and I had no jurisdiction to do anything.”
Another challenge was dealing with misconceptions. “When I revealed to a forensics classmate that I was in the Army, he replied, ‘Oh, how can you be in the Army? They don’t give you any freedom.’ Pretty absurd response considering I’m sitting in class right beside him. I inquired as to what kind of freedom I was being deprived of, and he didn’t seem to have an answer.”
When asked what advice she could offer servicemembers who are deciding on colleges and careers, Yancey was optimistic. “It’s never too late,” she recognized. “Many people out there cannot afford secondary education, but here the military is paying you to go to school. If you have goals and dreams and the gateway to those goals and dreams is through education, don’t deprive yourself. He or she who hesitates loses.” ♦
Nominate yourself or someone you know as the subject of a future Servicemember Spotlight feature by contacting Mark Fitzgerald at markf@kmimediagroup.