Living on campus, bonding with friends and trying different subjects before declaring a major are college rites of passage. Not every college student gets the same experience. As Amanda Lalonde ’23 discovered, some of the best lessons in higher education come after a roundabout journey.
LaLonde powered through different schools and degree programs, into military service in the Navy and Navy Reserve and on to full-time family duty, before coming back home to Central New York where it has all clicked for her at Syracuse University. Here, she’s embracing her best college experience as an Honors student and recipient of the Louis A. and Patricia H. Mautino Veteran Endowed Scholarship.
A New York native, LaLonde had to move with her family to Tampa, Florida, before her senior year of high school. She struggled to make friends that year before graduation. She applied to one school, and while commuting there and back, couldn’t connect with her fellow students. It wasn’t long before she started slacking off. By the end of her first year, she dropped out.
LaLonde considered joining the Army like her younger brother recently had, thinking it might give her a much-needed push to do something more productive. Though she wasn’t in shape enough to meet the Army’s requirement, a Navy recruiter called to check her interest. They offered to work with her to help get her in shape, and LaLonde welcomed the motivation and support. Even now, 17 years later, she still keeps in touch with that Navy recruiter.
She was stationed at the USS Bataan in Norfolk, Virginia, where she met her future husband Jon. Soon after they welcomed their first son Tyler, Jon deployed to Iraq. Geographically single parenting a newborn while working full-time on active duty was extremely demanding. Despite all the challenges, LaLonde managed to complete her associate degree in marine engineering.
I’m super proud of that degree. I will forever be proud of it,” she says. “It was not easy, but I got it done.”
When Jon returned from Iraq, LaLonde saw the opportunity to return to school for her bachelor’s degree.