Alumni Stories — Alumni Stories — U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary University Programs

MR. BEN SILLIMAN '15

Upon graduation from AUP and the College of William & Mary, Mr. Silliman took a job as a Laboratory Teacher at the American School of Kuwait. He taught high school students about chemistry and laboratory techniques. He also worked on many side projects, putting his AUP skills to work. He helped the Kuwait Dive team install buoys to prevent illegal anchoring on a coral reef and became involved in a project to start up a brand new environmental police agency in Kuwait, the first in the region. He drew heavily from his experiences in environmental response - including an AUP internship at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters - to advise senior officials and authored a proposal sent to the United Nations Development Program. The Kuwait Environment Police is expected to be operational within two years. Mr. Silliman now live in Pittsburgh, Pa. and will begin classes soon at Carnegie Mellon University for a program concentrating on energy policy.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 22, 2016environmental response, graduate school Comment

MS. KATELYN DAVIS '16

Since her graduation from the College of William & Mary earlier in the year, Ms. Davis has been job hunting for a position in the national security and legal fields. Of particular interest to her is a position with the Department of Justice in their Civil Rights division as a paralegal. Ms. Davis is preparing to take the LSAT on September 24th to apply to the constitutional law and civil rights program at George Washington University. Her ultimate goal is to either direct commission with the U.S. Army as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) or practice native law.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 22, 2016civil rights, law, national securityComment

ENS CHRISTOPHER PAPAS '15

After a fun 17 weeks with Chris Weber and Garret Hendrickson in lovely New London, CT, ENS Papas is now stationed at Sector New York as an apprentice Marine Inspector. He is currently working on his Port State qualifications, and taking advantage of everything New York City has to offer. On the AUP front, he is now serving as Unit Officer for the RCU, and loving building that unit up with some extraordinarily talented students.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 16, 2016Alumni, OCS, Marine InspectorComment

MR. JACOB THAYER '13

Jacob Thayer currently serves as a project manager in the Strategic Planning Directorate working on projects of national significance. He's attending Washington & Lee University for law school and maintains a home in Houston, Texas as well as Buena Vista, Virginia. He's currently a member of Flotilla Austin, where he serves as the Immediate Past Flotilla Commander. He left the flotilla in the hands of another former AUP student after having grown the unit to be the largest flotilla in the 8th Coastal Region District, earning several awards in the process--both individual and for the unit.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 15, 2016Alumni, Law SchoolComment

ENS GARRETT HENDRICKSON '15

ENS Hendrickson has been busy qualifying in his new position in San Diego. He has become dual qualified in the command center as an Operations Unit and as an Command Duty Officer and has been standing a taut watch. There is never a shortage of action in San Diego, both in terms of search and rescue and law enforcement cases. ENS Hendrickson is also the Bull Ensign in San Diego, meaning he's the most senior Ensign aboard. He is allowed to wear an oversized Ensign insignia on his cover.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 14, 2016OCS, Command Duty Officer, SectorComment

MR. JONATHAN ROTH '15

Jonathan Roth has spent the past year after graduating from The College of William & Mary at a marketing agency in Chicago, working in its Research & Analytics department. Every day he analyzes the social media performance of a multitude of brands, including ones in the automotive, CPG, financial services, energy and food&bev industries. Mr. Roth currently serves as the Alumni Lead for Auxiliary University Programs and frequently takes patrols as a crewmember with Flotilla 095-39-06 out of Station Wilmette Harbor, Illinois. He will attend U.S. Coast Guard Officer Candidate School in January 2017.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 13, 2016Marketing, Research and AnalyticsComment

MK3 JESSE THRIFT '12

Jesse Thrift graduated from AUP and the University of Maryland in 2012. After working as an emergency management specialist for the University of Maryland and a research assistant/tech writer for the Adversarial Modeling and Exploitation Office at the Naval Research Lab, he enlisted in the Coast Guard in February 2014. After boot camp he was stationed aboard the CGC Moray in Jonesport, ME as a fireman, attended Machinery Technician "A" school, and then PCSed to CGC Hickory in Homer, AK, where he serves as the main propulsion division MK3. MK3 Thrift continued to serve as a member of the Auxiliary as well as an active duty Coast Guardsman, filling positions as FSO-Publications and FSO-Navigation Systems for Flotilla 170-02-01. Homer AK and Branch Assistant-- Juniors Program for the AUP National Staff.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 12, 2016Emergency Management, Boot CampComment

ENS CHRISTOPHER WEBER '15

ENS Chris Weber graduated from the U.S Coast Guard's Officer Candidate School class 1-16 in November 2015. ENS Weber reported to USCGC EAGLE in December 2015 as a Deck Watch Officer and the ship's Electronics Material Officer (EMO). The EMO is responsible for the material readiness of the ship's internal and external communication systems. EAGLE recently returned to Curtis Bay, MD after sailing to Ireland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Bermuda and several eastern seaboard ports while training hundreds of Coast Guard Academy cadets and officer candidates in basic shipboard engineering, damage control, ship handling, seamanship and celestial navigation. ENS Weber holds a bachelor's degree in English and Sociology from the College of William & Mary and graduated from the Auxiliary University Program's Unit William & Mary in May 2015.

Alumni StoriesJonathan RothAugust 11, 2016Eagle, Deck Watch Officer, Electronics Material Officer, CutterComment