Growing up in upstate New York, Chris St. Andrews had always felt a connection to his family’s legacy of military service – symbolized by a “family wall” in his grandmother’s home. There, Chris would see portraits of his relatives, generations of family members, in uniform.
“There’s this part where it has my father, my grandfather, my grandfather’s brothers, and they are all lined up on this wall,” the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) graduate says. “I would always look at that and think to myself ‘I want to be there on that wall with them.’”
That wall became a source of motivation for Chris, who was recently accepted into the United States Navy Officer Candidate School (OCS). The achievement came following a letter of recommendation from Dr. Daniel Augusto, PhD, one of the UAGC professors he interacted with most while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in homeland security and emergency management.
“What I really respect about him is that he has a standard, very clear, and he wants excellence,” Chris recalls. “I would email him, ask him questions and his responses and the detail that he would put into it the effort, just the extent that he would go through to help you was very impactful for me.
“I realized that even though I’m going to an online school, I’m not really alone.”
As someone curious about intelligence gathering, with the hope of eventually becoming a cryptologic warfare officer (a role that leverages expertise in cyber operations and information warfare), Chris felt homeland security and emergency management perfectly lined up with his career ambition.
“Signal intelligence, and different forms of intelligence gathering – I’ve always been interested in this topic and how it affects the life of an everyday American,” he says.
UAGC, it turned out, also proved to be the perfect fit for Chris, who attended classes while balancing his responsibilities as a U.S. Navy submariner and a father and husband. Throughout his time, he remained focused on the four foundations of Officer Candidate School: leadership, profession of arms, fitness, and academics.
His college education afforded him the opportunity to strengthen himself in those core areas – notably, building mental fitness through academics, while focusing on physical fitness outside of school.
Now, Chris is counting the days until January 25, 2025, when he begins Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island.
A Higher Standard
Chris held himself to a high standard at UAGC and is proud to have maintained a 4.0 GPA. But he can’t take all the credit.
“My wife, my family, my leadership at work, and my professors, they all helped me in a different way, whether they realize it or not,” he explains.
From a young age, his father engrained in him a philosophy he has fully embraced at school and in the military:
“Once you start something, you complete it, and you do it to the best of your ability,” he says his father would tell him.
That mindset led Chris to self-discovery after he joined UAGC. He realized that he’s a person who always preferred discipline and timeliness – qualities that are fine-tuned and strengthened in online college.
“My degree took both of those things,” Chris says. “I had to manage my time effectively, because I'm a husband, and I have responsibilities at home to my wife as much as I have responsibilities to the Navy.
“And then, just for myself, I had the responsibility to earn my degree, and that took a lot of discipline and a lot of time management.”
Chris admits that he lacked both at a much younger age, but he has come to understand as an adult that these traits are essential to his success and the life that he’s envisioned for himself and his family.
According to the Navy, Officer Candidate School is designed to develop future naval leaders who can lead sailors and conduct operations globally. As someone who holds himself to a high standard, Chris says he’ll be ready to meet these challenges and align with the Navy’s mission to maintain security and combat readiness.
And even after he becomes an ensign, he wants to continue his lifelong learning mission.
“I do want to actually get a master's degree,” Chris says. “I know I can do it, and I’m always all about bettering my myself and my furthering my education and learning as much as I can, so I would love to continue.”
Seeing the World at Work
The Navy, Chris explains has felt like home ever since he signed up, and his college education has given him more incentive to continue his military career and aspire to opportunities that will take him further around the world.
“When I joined the Navy, I originally wanted to be a master at arms,” he says. “But I ended up becoming a submariner, a fire control technician.
In this role, he maintains and operates the combat systems on a submarine for guided missiles and underwater weapons.
“It’s a pretty taxing job, but it’s also a really great job, and I love what I do right now,” he says.
Growing up, Chris wanted to see the world, but his family didn’t do a lot of traveling because his mother didn’t like to fly. Joining the Navy, he says, seemed like the best way for him to fulfill that goal.
Today, he’s literally living in paradise, as his work has taken him and the family to Hawaii. Living in the Aloha State has fueled Chris’ passion for the outdoors, from beach days with his wife to tackling trails and training runs.
“I love hiking here, the hikes here are amazing, the best that I ever did,” he says. “I’ve been running a lot more recently, which is more what is required for me at Officer Candidate School.”
Chris’s best mile and a half was about 10 minutes and 40 seconds but he’s shooting for an even better time.
“I’ve literally seen people get under 10 minutes, so that is something that I’m trying to do,” he notes.
A Role Model for Future Alum
Like many college graduates, the path to a degree wasn’t always clear to Christ, and he admits there were times when he didn’t think it was “really feasible” to get a degree.
Now that he’s proven capable of accomplishing his goal, Chris wants to be the example that future graduates can aspire to – especially if they are fellow service members.
“If you put your mind to it and utilize your time and all the resources that are available to you, you can do anything,” he encourages.
“Getting an education is very important, and I want people to know that it is possible.”
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The Bachelor of Arts in Homeland Security and Emergency Management program is not designed to meet the state educational requirements for a specific professional license or certification in any state. Students seeking licensure or certification in a particular profession shall carefully research the requirements prior to enrollment and regularly review the requirements as they are subject to change. Requirements vary by state. The University of Arizona Global Campus does not guarantee that any professional organization will accept a graduate’s application to sit for any exam for the purpose of professional certification. Further, a criminal record may prevent an applicant from obtaining licensure, certification, or employment in their field of study.
Student success stories should not be interpreted as a promise or guarantee of career advancement or future earnings. The stories shared here represent the outcomes of individual students for illustrative purposes only.