{"id":12086,"date":"2010-09-09T08:17:09","date_gmt":"2010-09-09T12:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=12086"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:42:30","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:42:30","slug":"history-major-took-advantage-of-new-gi-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/09\/history-major-took-advantage-of-new-gi-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"History Major Took Advantage of New GI Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Evan<\/a>
Evan Paradis. Photo by Derek Dudek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although some enlist in the military out of a sense of patriotism or in search of adventure, Evan Paradis joined the U.S. Navy three weeks out of high school, wanting a college degree but knowing he couldn\u2019t afford it. He saw the military as his path to a college education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to a recruiter who told me about the new GI Bill and the bonuses you could get for college,\u201d says Paradis, now a UConn undergraduate. \u201cMy goal was to get a degree. I didn\u2019t really know what for, but I wanted to do that. The only way I could see that it was feasible was either by taking out a lot of loans or by going into the military. So I went into the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking on the most challenging technical job he could find in the Navy \u2013 operating the nuclear reactors that power aircraft carriers \u2013 he worked aboard the USS Enterprise<\/em> as part of a six-year service commitment. \u201cI wanted to get out there and throw myself in the situation and see how I responded to it,\u201d says Paradis, now 25.<\/p>\n

Having endured grueling hours in an engine room below deck that could sometimes reach temperatures of 130 degrees, today Paradis has a strong ‘can-do’ attitude about his new life as a student in Storrs.<\/p>\n

Paradis spent three deployments in the Persian Gulf on a ship with more than 5,000 other service members. Here at UConn, where he is pursuing a major in history, he welcomes demanding assignments, lengthy papers, and final exams. \u201cI want to be here. If I\u2019m going to write a paper, I\u2019m going to learn everything I can while I\u2019m doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When his tour of duty ended in 2008, Paradis went on to work for FuelCell Energy in Danbury, hoping to take classes on the side while making a lucrative career using the skills he had learned in the Navy. But finding that the job didn\u2019t quite hold his interest and required long hours, he knew he wanted to make school his priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized that whatever job I was going to choose for my career, I was going to want to like it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At UConn, he has had the opportunity to choose a major and, essentially, a new career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to take advantage of this opportunity and pick the career that I\u2019m going to enjoy,\u201d says Paradis. \u201cHappiness is worth more than money to me now.\u201d He has set his sights on graduate school and a career working as a historian for the federal government.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Paradis says, he gained far more than a college education from the Navy. For one, his military experience allowed him to travel extensively across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving been to so many places that are so drastically different than the United States really opens your eyes to the way other people live,\u201d he says. \u201cTo be suddenly immersed in an entirely new world really invigorated my interest in foreign cultures, languages, and religions \u2026 I feel that I have genuinely enriched my understanding of the world as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he adds, serving in the Navy gave him the focus and life experience he now needs to make the most of school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had gone [to college] when I was 18, would I be taking as much from it as I am now?\u201d he asks. \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t think I would be. I take it a lot more seriously now because I know there\u2019s an actual future that\u2019s behind it. Knowing what\u2019s waiting for you on the other side, you have to prepare yourself. Having a second chance to pick a career, I\u2019d better make the most of it this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the third of four articles this week about veterans on campus.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tuesday: Coming Home to a College Education<\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday: The Transition to Civilian Life<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday: Iraq War Veteran Hopes to Help Improve Military Fitness Programs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Evan Paradis served six years in the U.S. Navy so he could afford a college education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[49],"class_list":["post-12086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 09:44:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12086"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37465,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12086\/revisions\/37465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12086"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=12086"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}