Q. Can you tell us a little about your service?

A. I served in the U.S. Army for 24 years.

Q. What kind of work did you do?

A. I served as a First Sergeant in a company of 229 soldiers on the border of the demilitarized zone in Korea. I was involved in several deployments, including Grenada, Operation Desert Storm (1st Gulf War), and Operation Iraqi Freedom (2nd Gulf War). I spent four years in Germany, deployed twice to South Korea, and I was involved with multiple units being deployed to Afghanistan while I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.

Q. How do you think your time serving in the military affected your own personal growth or impacted your outlook on life?

A. Serving in the military has made me a better person, more conscious, more concerned, more determined and committed. It has instilled a sense of duty, not just to my country, but to all human beings throughout the world.

Q. What are some of the lessons, learned during your time in the service, that you still think of regularly in civilian life?

A. To always be prepared. To train and work hard. To be committed to excellence. To be loyal. To be dedicated. The list goes on and on.

Q. What first drew you to education, and how did you end up working in Spring ISD?

A. I always wanted to give back to the community; being a teacher allows me to help students much like myself when I was growing up. A friend told me about Spring ISD. Since my first day walking into Wells Middle School, I knew that I never wanted to be anywhere else. Although I am not native to Houston, Spring ISD is my adopted family and home.

Q. Do you have any favorite ways to commemorate Veterans Day each year, or any special traditions you’d like to share?

A. I really don’t do anything special, I just feel blessed to have had the opportunity to serve in the best military in the entire world and live in a country like the United States.

Q. At this point in your own life and career, what does Veterans Day mean to you?

A. It causes me to reflect on how truly blessed I am and how small the sacrifices seem compared to the greater good I’ve experienced in my life.