{"id":794,"date":"2016-09-19T16:44:28","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T16:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=794"},"modified":"2016-09-19T16:44:28","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T16:44:28","slug":"parachuting-to-president-army-veteran-embracing-life-as-a-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=794","title":{"rendered":"Parachuting to President, Army Veteran Embracing Life as A Student"},"content":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Harlingen native Brian Rodriguez said goodbye to his life in the military, and hello to a new journey at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen.\u00a0 The 27-year-old is currently enjoying the role of president for the Veteran Students Alliance Club.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez was a parachute infantryman stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and served in the Army for four years.\u00a0 He was stationed in Afghanistan for seven months, a time he describes simply as \u201cwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

He made the decision to enroll in college when his contract in the Army was nearing an end, and an injury made him reconsider his career choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was injured during a jump and hurt my back.\u00a0 The pain was so excruciating every time I tried to move.\u00a0 I decided to wait it out to the end of my contract to get out of the military, and that\u2019s when I made the decision to start school,\u201d he recalls.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t want to get out and just do nothing.\u00a0 You alw\"Brian<\/a>ays have to keep moving forward.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how slow you go anywhere; you just have to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Rodriguez has an array of interests, the one constant he knew he wanted to study was biology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been into that field, even as a kid I was always watching nature shows,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cBiology opens so many doors, which is something that I can look forward to in the future.\u00a0 The most difficult goal I have is to eventually get into astrobiology (the study of life on earth and in space).\u00a0 The solar system is something that fascinates me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now Rodriguez is focused on his presidential duties with the Veteran Students Alliance Club, and he hopes that his fall semester as president helps bring more recognition to the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would really like for Veteran Students Alliance to get their name out there as much as possible, and help the community however we can.\u00a0 After all, the Rio Grande Valley is home to a lot of veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about members of club, Rodriguez explained that they are a very welcoming group of individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur club is friendly and welcoming.\u00a0 I would encourage any veteran, veteran dependents or student to come in and spend time here.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need any type of military background to join.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez is already thinking about his life after TSTC and planning new travel adventures before seeking a bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter college I\u2019m considering staying with a friend of mine in Wisconsin for a bit,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cIt will be fun to just hop around to new places.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to limit my life experiences.\u00a0 TSTC is a great new experience, and I\u2019m ready for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on the Veteran Students Alliance Club, stop by the Veterans Center located in the Student Center, Room #138, or call 956-364-4386.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Harlingen native Brian Rodriguez said goodbye to his life in the military, and hello to a new journey at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen.\u00a0 The 27-year-old is currently enjoying the role of president for the Veteran Students Alliance Club. Rodriguez was a parachute infantryman stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":796,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions\/796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}