![\"Countdown](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/DEP-018-UComm-Commencement-Graphic-FY22_bookish-300x76.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEvery day, Briana Brady \u201925 (CAHNR) gets up at 5:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
She packs school lunches and snacks for her two children, gets their backpacks ready, and gives them breakfast.<\/p>\n
She squeezes in a shower for herself, puts the kids on the bus to school, and then drives an hour and a half to Storrs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI live all the way in Plymouth, over by Waterbury, so it’s three hours of driving a day,\u201d Brady says. \u201cAnd sometimes I’m only here for one class, so I drive more than I’m actually in class.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the afternoons, she races back home to get her kids off the bus.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s softball. Basketball. Wrestling. Dance. Clubs and carpooling. Dinner.<\/p>\n
When everyone is fed and relaxing before bedtime, Brady tries to do some homework before she crashes out for the night herself \u2013 getting ready to do it all over again the next day.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been her routine for the last two years, and it hasn\u2019t always been easy for the Natural Resources & the Environment major and New Jersey native, who has spent the last 18 years living a nomadic life.<\/p>\n
A U.S. Coast Guard veteran, Brady spent six years in service that took her all over the country. She\u2019s been stationed in San Francisco, Virginia, South Carolina, and Maine. She spent months in and out of Alaska, patrolling the Bering Sea and stopping in some of its ports.<\/p>\n
Alaska is where she met her husband, who is still in active duty with the Coast Guard. They came to Connecticut when her husband was transferred five years ago.<\/p>\n
While serving in the Coast Guard, Brady was a Boatswains mate third class \u2013 expected to be capable of serving in nearly any job on a vessel, an expert in seamanship and navigation, a leader responsible for the safety of their crew.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a lot of navigation,\u201d she explains. \u201cA lot of chart work. A lot of driving of the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n
In some ways, she hasn\u2019t stopped serving in that role even though her time in the military has ended.<\/p>\n
‘I don’t want to just get a job to have a job’\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n She\u2019s still navigating things, still driving the boat. And still living on the water.<\/p>\n After earning an associate\u2019s degree from Three Rivers in Norwich, Brady applied to UConn\u2019s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. She knew she wanted to do environmental work, but found her calling when she took courses on water resource management and geospatial technologies.<\/p>\n \u201cI think water is insanely important,\u201d she says. \u201cWater resources are everywhere, so anywhere I have to move, there’s water. And I just want to feel good about what I’m doing \u2013 I don’t want to just get a job to have a job. I want to feel good about it.\u201d<\/p>\n She continues, \u201cI think that we don\u2019t consider how we contaminate our resources. The things we add to water are hard to filter out and sometimes go undetected for a long time. And then we drink this, and we give this to our kids, and we don\u2019t think twice. We assume it\u2019s clear. Even if we live in U.S., there\u2019s still poor water quality in places, and I think people take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n She found willing mentors in several UConn professors and, in addition to her classes and at-home responsibilities, has been working in the campus\u2019s Water Quality Lab after taking a course on green stormwater management, where she helps to build sample kits that are used in the lab\u2019s well testing outreach program.<\/p>\n \u201cI go to events, collect samples, and talk to people about why it\u2019s so important to test your well water,\u201d Brady says, \u201cbecause sometimes you don\u2019t even know what\u2019s in it.\u201d<\/p>\n Brady\u2019s been a welcome addition to the lab, says Michael Dietz, a water resources extension educator and director of the Connecticut Institute of Water Resources who oversees the lab and the well testing program.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough she is a nontraditional student with family responsibilities at home, Briana puts in outstanding effort in her courses,\u201d says Dietz. \u201cShe does this work with humility and without complaint. It has also been wonderful to watch her confidence grow through her career as a student. I will truly miss her presence and her warm wit when she graduates!\u201d<\/p>\n And graduation is imminent for Brady \u2013 she\u2019s set to wear the cap and gown and walk in her commencement ceremony this May, earning her bachelor\u2019s degree from UConn.<\/p>\n Taking care of a family as a full-time student<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s something that still doesn\u2019t feel real, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI can’t even wrap my head around it, because I have papers and finals and projects to do,\u201d she says. \u201cI just look at it day-by-day. I can’t think about what I have to do too far in the future, because it’s overwhelming.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I just keep trucking away. And then sometimes I look back, and I’m like, whoa, how did I do that?\u201d<\/p>\n She did it by getting plenty of sleep. By trying to exercise. By drinking a ton of that precious water, she says, and paying a lot of attention to what she eats.<\/p>\n Taking care of a family as full-time student taking five-to-six courses a semester? It\u2019s been extremely challenging.<\/p>\n \u201cI try to balance it as best as I can, but sometimes it’s like, \u2018Mom, can you get off the computer?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I’m like, \u2018I have a lab due. I’m so sorry, but it’ll be worth it.\u2019 And I think they know it.\u201d<\/p>\n Her efforts haven\u2019t been lost on those around her, including her professors.<\/p>\n \u201cBri is a highly dedicated individual, not only as student, but also to her family. She definitely gives a 100% to both,\u201d says Morty Ortega, an associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources & the Environment. \u201cBri has a real passion for the environment \u2013 the more she learns about it, she then passes that to her children.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘If you think you can’t do it, just do it’\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This summer, Brady and her family will be making what she hopes will be their last move, to Pennsylvania, which is closer to their extended families. Her husband has about five years of service left in the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n While her life as a nomad might be ending, her life as a student likely isn\u2019t over. She hopes to pursue a master\u2019s degree once her family is settled while also entering the workforce.<\/p>\n Her advice for other students \u2013 those who have taken a traditional path to college, or those, like her, who\u2019ve had a different journey?<\/p>\n Just do it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think you can’t do it, just do it, because chances are that if you are determined and motivated and disciplined, you will get it done and you’ll get it done well,\u201d Brady says. \u201cIt’s mental, and you just have to take that chance and go for it and apply. Don’t be scared.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s very intimidating, especially for someone who has a ton of responsibilities. But I don’t regret going forward. At all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The hard work of being a full-time student while taking care of a family is about to be rewarded <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":228576,"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":[2224,2229,2649,2300,2194,156,99,2235,2225,2227,2458,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2168],"class_list":["post-228142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-commencement","category-blue-pride","category-natural-resources-environment","category-new-haven-county","category-profile","category-student-life","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-undergraduates","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 05:41:50","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\/228142","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\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228142"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228692,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228142\/revisions\/228692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/228576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228142"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=228142"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=228142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}