The Struggle is Real
In those four years, I mostly worked. I lived on my own and paid my own way. I worked again for my aunt for a while but desired more independence. I had two jobs at a time to cover the cost of living and repayment of college loans. I worked in the restaurant industry as a waitress, but the money was unreliable. I started to work for an old friend of the family at a tanning salon while I was waiting tables. One day I waited for an opportunity, an old teacher I had. She told me to become a substitute teacher to see if I liked teaching. It only required one certification that I could get in about three months and paid about $100 a day. I took the class, quit my waitress job, and started substitute teaching. I still had my tanning salon job and I was getting called daily for work as a sub. My preferred grades were sixth to eighth grade, which happens to be the hardest group to get a fill-in for. In the summer months, I was a nanny for a family with three children between the ages of four and ten. In the winter months, I worked the extra retail hours that come with the holidays. All the while working at the tanning salon, and as a substitute while school was in session. I enjoyed the work, but I had no personal time and not much in my bank account to make up for it. I needed a change; I was on the verge of buying the tanning salon when I was compelled to an opportunity that had always been humming in the back of my mind.
Military Experience
On July 5th, 2006 I went to the Marines recruiting station. I walked up to the door where there were men in uniform standing around smoking cigarettes, cussing, and laughing. I pulled on the Marines’ door, it was locked. The men asked me if I was looking for the Marine recruiters, I said yes and that I had decided I wanted to join the Marines. One of the men then asked me if I wanted to get shot at, I said not particularly, but I was willing if it came down to it. They then told me the Marines were out golfing, but if I did not mind NOT getting shot at I could join the Navy. On August 16th, 2006 I went off to become an Aegis Computer and Network Fire Controlman.
My educational experience from the Navy was more than the technical aspects I have already spoken on, it was for me a ten-year work-study-abroad program. Six of the ten years were spent at sea, visiting places I would never have been able to go to on my own, and experiencing things I never dreamed I would. I sang for the Navy’s Gospel Choir in Chicago. I spilled tea on the President of Panama. I got in the cage with Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa (where they jump out of the water like dolphins to sink their jaws into a tasty seal). I shook hands with a man who escaped two concentration camps. While assuming the role of the ship’s photographer, my photos were published in several outlets.
My favorite role I took on was as a community relations coordinator. In that role I planned, organized, and publicized volunteers from the Navy with civilian non-profit organizations. In Savannah GA, I organized events with the United Way, the local YMCA, and FoodBank. In Odessa, Georgia (the country), I coordinated the efforts of over one-hundred sailors on one day to an orphanage for children under the age of 7. The sailors were moved over the experience and I had the privilege of collecting over $1200 in donations to send to the orphanage.
The Journey Back
I left the Navy in August 2016, I had already been scouted and recruited by General Dynamics to teach all the technical things I learned in the Navy. I thought I was going to like it more, I thought it was going to be different since I wasn’t going to be wearing a uniform anymore. It wasn’t where I needed to be anymore and I wanted to go back to school. I put a notice in and still went above and beyond in my last weeks there.
When I looked at my total education experience I figured I should go for a computer science degree, and if I were to be so bold an electrical engineering degree. I started my classes at Hawaii Pacific University as a computer science major taking most of my general education classes at the military campus location. In the fall of 2017, I wanted to try to push my brain. I signed up for Physics, Calculus, and Computer Programing all in the same semester, this time at the main campuses. I did well in the programing class and another class I took as a schedule filler to maintain full-time status. My filler class influenced me to change my major to something more artsy.
I had a coming to Jesus moment and asked myself “Why was I on this path to computer science?” I could do it and I was good at it, but I would have three more years of school to go through for a bachelor’s degree to learn the things military school already did but are not counted towards a degree. The next thought was if I am going to spend two years or more learning something, I wanted to really like it and learn something new.
My filler class was a film studies class, back to my high school dreams. Why not? I paid for my education already by my service in the military, why not study something I have always liked and wanted to do? I changed my major, made some films, and won some awards for them. I graduated class of Corona 2020, with honors. If you want to see some of my work check out the Feena Bonoan Productions page.