The VISTA Project

Hope was stationed at Stevenson University’s Owings Mills campus as the Veterans’ Career Management Coordinator. Operating directly out of the university’s Career Services Office, her mission was to design, execute, and scale a comprehensive support architecture that connected student veterans and regional military-connected families with critical academic, financial, and vocational resources.

The Challenge
For veterans transitioning from active-duty military service to a university campus, the shift can be isolating and structurally confusing. Many struggle to translate highly technical and operational military skills into the civilian corporate vocabulary required to secure career-level employment. At Stevenson University, there was a critical lack of dedicated, veteran-specific programming to ease this cultural and professional translation, as well as an absence of a peer network to anchor returning service members into the campus community.

The Solution
Drawing from her own experience as a U.S. Navy veteran who spent seven years on active duty, Hope developed high-impact, human-centered resources to demystify the civilian job hunt. She coordinated Stevenson's bi-annual Veterans' Career Fairs, established community-facing partnerships to expand off-campus outreach, and integrated the "Dependable Strengths" workshop curriculum to help students articulate their professional value. To address the resource gap directly, she researched and authored a comprehensive regional Veteran Resource Guide. She also collaborated with partners like Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS) to provide veterans with professional attire and essential career development workshops, and founded Stevenson's very first official student veteran club to foster peer-to-peer mentoring.

The Legacy
Hope's work established a permanent, sustainable support system at Stevenson University. She institutionalized student veteran advocacy on campus by establishing formal club bylaws and creating peer-leadership structures. Recognizing the value of the network she built, Stevenson University sustained the initiative beyond the VISTA grant cycle, funding a dedicated student position to continue running the program. Hope's outstanding service and systemic impact were formally recognized when she was awarded the prestigious President's Volunteer Service Award by TMA.

Life After VISTA

The extensive, hands-on experience of designing learning experiences, leading high-engagement workshops, and helping people transform their professional identity fundamentally reshaped Hope’s career trajectory. Recognizing her deep passion for instructional design and facilitative coaching, she leveraged her VISTA service to transition into a successful, fifteen-year career designing high-impact training programs for demanding federal, non-profit, and corporate environments.