Photo By Amy Perry | Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Bowling, previously an instructor in the 91B Wheeled Vehicle...... read more read more
FORT LEE. Va. (Aug. 10, 2017) -- As the youngest of six and first in his family to graduate high school, Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Bowling was not in any rush to start collegiate-level coursework.
But, after his arrival to Fort Lee to serve as an instructor in the 91B Wheeled Vehicle Maintenance department and facing retirement in five short years, he decided it was time to get started.
“I was a little nervous at first because I didn’t get the best grades in school and was on academic probation for most of it. After my first semester in college here, though, I made the dean’s list and graduated cum laude with my bachelor’s degree,” Bowling said. “It came easy, so I just decided to keep going.
“I can’t imagine doing this coursework right out of high school because I didn’t have any real-life experiences,” he continued. “But it’s easy to apply a lot of military principles like leadership, for example, to my coursework in college. The same things they teach us about leading in the Army can apply to corporations.”
Bowling started his post-high school academic career with taking six online classes a semester at Liberty University, two more than full-time status. Once he realized he would fall a few classes short of a bachelor’s degree before an upcoming promotion board, he requested a waiver from the school to take seven classes a semester. This led to him completing his bachelor’s in a mere 14 months. While some of his military education counted toward elective credits, only one class in his degree program was credited for his military experience.
After hearing horror stories from his fellow Soldiers about taking breaks between degrees, Bowling went headfirst into a master’s degree program and completed it in 14 months. Up next, Bowling has set his sights on a Doctorate of Educational Leadership, also offered through Liberty. He plans to complete the program in two years, mostly during his 12-month unaccompanied tour to Korea. His permanent change of station move is already underway. Afterward, he will join his family at Fort Campbell, Ky.
“I chose my doctorate because I discovered I love teaching. It’s also the only one Liberty offers a military discount on,” he said.
Looking at the end of his career, Bowling said he decided to keep pursuing additional degrees to set himself up to retire.
“I always liked teaching, but my goal is to get a job with the Department of Defense Education Schools,” he said. “This degree will allow me to be a superintendent or principal with one of the schools.”
Several installations – including Fort Campbell, where he intends to retire – have DOD schools.
Bowling said he used tuition assistance for his classes, but that only covered 5-6 courses each year. He made up the difference with Pell Grants and Virginia tuition assistance grants, making it possible to have no out-of-pocket expenses for his schooling. His wife also joined him and has completed an associate’s degree. She is finishing her bachelor’s degree now and used many of the same programs for her tuition.
“My wife and I looked online for all the free grants we could use for our schooling,” he said. “It really helped. A lot of Soldiers are limited because the tuition assistance is only enough for five courses and a bit more each year. I shared information with my department on finding grants to help out the other instructors, as well.”
Getting his degree while in the service is important as he has already given his son – now 26 – his Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. His wife received the remainder to help with her tuition costs.
His younger children – all girls, 13, 12 and 5 – are looking forward to going to college, and Bowling said he and his wife thought it set a good example about continuing education.
“My parents only had an 8th grade education, so it’s nice to set an example for your children,” he said.
Bowling acknowledged there was a lot of coursework associated with his schooling, but said he was able to keep most of it restricted to downtime at work.
“Everyone looked at me crazy when I told them how many courses I was working on, but if you balance it right, it works out fine,” he said. “During lunch, I was doing school work. After physical training, I would shower, go back to work and do more school work. I did very little at home, mostly using any break to do a little bit at a time.”
Others in his department realized they could advance their schooling in the same method, said Bowling. Everyone in the module Bowling taught ended up going to school, including a civilian counterpart.
The department’s previous sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. Patricio Cardonavega, CSM, 16th Ordnance Battalion, 59th Ordnance Brigade, said he is proud of his Soldiers for advancing their schooling. He completed his bachelor’s degree while he was the Wheeled Vehicle Maintenance department SGM, and he attributed some of the changing culture to his troops realizing the importance of education.
“I am extremely excited that highlighting educational goals is becoming part of the culture. When I arrived in the school house, the number of instructors pursuing an education was around 18 percent, and when I left, it was around 64 percent. To some extent, this was because of their willingness to emulate my efforts as I was completing my degree,” he said. “Promoting education exalts a commitment to life-long learning while creating a level of positive competitiveness inevitably preparing them for life outside of the Army.
“I believe NCOs that have attained advanced degrees will foster an environment of relevancy pertaining to societal changes and have the potential to serve more effectively in leadership positions,” Cardonavega said.
| Date Taken: | 08.10.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2017 12:47 |
| Story ID: | 244439 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort Lee NCO completes bachelors, masters in under three years, looks to doctorate, by Amy Perry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
