Danielle Vezensky, senior, has been meeting with a recruiter from the National Guard in secret. Before long, she officially enlisted.

“I like to live my life really go-with-the-flow,” Venzensky said. “This is probably the best example of it— me being dead-set on a college in California to one day starting to get really interested with the National Guard within a week.”

This personal decision “came as a huge shock” to her friends and family, especially since she had never come from a military background. Thankfully, Vezensky says, everyone was extremely supportive.

“It was a really hard choice to make, and I have a lot of respect for her towards that. I never thought of her as someone joining the military, but she proved me wrong,” Kyle Cramer, Vensensky’s best friend, said.

Vezensky is leaving in the summer for boot camp and basic training. She will be joining the National Guard’s ROTC program during college, but as soon as she is finished, she has a mandatory eight year commitment to serve.

“That’s going to teach me a lot of basic military leadership skills and positions and will help apply to different aspects of my life as well, and different experiences that I’m able to get, whether it’s being physically fit or mentally fit, and things that are going to keep me active and lead to a positive outcome in life.”

However, it will not be easy, Vensensky said.

“It’s going to be hard to balance during college. It does require a lot of physical training every morning before classes and it also requires me to take additional classes beyond my major already,” Vezensky said. “I could get deployed for up to however long they want me at a time and so it could disrupt my job and my career.”

According to Cramer, Vezensky has been going to training sessions, exercising a lot everyday, and learning a variety of new things in preparation for the National Guard.

“Dani is truly one of the most inspirational people I know. It’s been hard on her grade-wise but she still finds a way to keep on up,” Cramer said. “It’ll get really stressful at times but she won’t sit and worry, but instead finds her bearings and continues to work hard.”

Although she originally did not show interest for joining the military, Vezensky said that she was always interested in criminology, robotics, anything STEM related, and just helping people out in general. She will be majoring in forensic sciences at Tampa University, contrary to her others’ longing for her to pursue engineering.

“Dani is very passionate when it comes to STEM. Despite not going into an engineering field, she was a critical member of the Robotics Club over the past several years, both as our President and as a Mechanical Captain,” John Keyzer, Robotics Club sponsor, said.

According to Vezensky, she sees herself in ten years with a forensic sciences degree working at either a government agency specializing in crime scene investigation or as a forensic technician, as well as an alignment with The National Guard specializing in mortuary affairs.

“I’m really happy with all the decisions that I’m making,” Vezensky said. “As hectic as it can be and as stressful as it is to try to figure out all the situations, I wouldn’t change anything because it’s led me to the right place where I’m supposed to be right now.”