Running this joint!
Sometimes your life plays out like a story book. Five years ago on or about November 18th my then boss, Matt Schmidt asked me, “Shawn, where do you see yourself in 5 years?'“ I replied immediately with, “Running this joint Matt!” What I loved about that moment and what I hope to be as a leader is that Matt, said, “Well then, lets see how we can start you on that path right now!” Five years later, on November 18th, 2022 I was offered the position of Executive Director of the Pat Tillman Veterans Center at Arizona State University. I run this joint! It took exactly five years to secure my dream job! If you have read my book, this story started when I was wondering around the Memorial Union at ASU trying to meet international students but I ended up meeting student veterans and it led me to walk into the Veterans Center and volunteer as their chaplain. I spent about 2 years doing that and applied for a job as the military advocate, was hired and began this beautiful journey with ASU. I have so many PTVC people to thank and wanted to use this blog to do that.
Michelle Loposky, thank you for being my PTVC champion, for seeing in me the right stuff and for all of your vision and love for student veterans. Christian Rauschenbach, what can I say?! Your intelligence and loyalty to our center are unparralleled. Troy Rundle, thanks “Buddy” for being there from the start, thanks for getting our students to the place they need to be and for loving them along the way. Steve Borden our first director, thank you for asking me to be the chaplain and for eventually hiring me on at the PTVC. Jeff Guimarin our second director, thanks for your confidence in me and for letting me know you saw in me what it takes to lead this great group of people. Matt, thanks for pushing me and for teaching me some things about being a leader. Britt, Julie, Jennifer, Tomomi, Louise, Cheryl, Michael, Joe, Shelly, Chelsey, Charles, Anthony, some of our former School Certifying Officials that allowed me to cut my teeth as an advocate. Keegan and Dustin a couple of former veteran admissions specilalists who brought those students to our university. To Ryan and Danielle for letting letting me teach you some things about advocacy and listening well, thanks for your time as a military advocate! To my Sr. Success Advocate Beno Thomas, for being a brother to me and for being my head cheerleader and for keeping the advocacy of our student veterans at the front of your mind every day and to Sonia our newest success advocate who I see great things in. To Leticia, Ken, Trudy, Herminio, Emma, Sheena, Joanie and Corey thank you for your support and love and for your amazing work certifying all the students each and every semester! Finally, to all of the VA workstudies (too many to name!) that I have had the amazing opportunity to cross paths with. You truly are the heartbeat of our center. Thank you for all your hard work over the past 5 years and I look forward to our future!
So this might be an exhaustive list of PTVC persons, but if I missed anyone I worked with, please forgive me. You too helped me along the way.
Lastly, if it were not for the family and friends I have, I know I couldn’t have done it! First, my wife Jodi, kids, Zach and Nicky, Jenna and Javaris, parents Larry and Darla, siblings Shane and Sara, Jason and Brandy, Jeremy and Sandra, Jessica and Brent. Second, Greg and Renee, Brien and Shanna, Jamin and Jessica, Jeff and Amy, Jonathan and Nicole, Jackie and Lisa, Craig and Kristol, Phil and Amanda, Manu, Stacey, Diane x 2, Moi, Bob, Brett, Sharon, Nancy, Carolyn, Patty, Paige, Jared, Kent, Matt, Jackie,Wanda, Dave, Sanghoon,Yestina, Ben, Chad, Brooke, Jose, Maria, Paul, Jake, Tate, James, Krystal,Lisa,Aimee……….The 1057th! The 1074th! …..The list can go on and on as you can see!
I am wide eyed going into this new role. I am excited for the challenge, but know as any leader worth their salt knows, if success is the goal it takes the whole team to make that happen and I have that team!
