The in-depth section in issue 6 profiles alumni, parents and teachers in the military. Below is a feature on a Pyle teacher who served in the military to accompany the section:

About six years ago, math and resource teacher Shawn Mumma was training in the Army reserves. Fast forward to 2012, and he’s navigating the halls of high school.

With a family history in the Navy, Mumma applied to the Naval Academy when he was 18-years-old but did not get accepted. So, Mumma took his education in a different direction and attended American University. But he always held on to his interest in serving and realized later there were other aspects of the military for him.

“By the time I had hit 26 or 27, I had a different idea, and I thought, ‘Service to country takes many forms,’” Mumma said. “It’s okay that I didn’t go to Annapolis.”

After leaving a job at the Justice Department in 2001, Mumma decided to enlist in the army. While training, he simultaneously studied for a Masters in teaching.

“We too often throw around this slogan, ‘I want to make a difference,’” Mumma said. “That’s what brought me to teaching. I wanted to make a difference. So I started teaching, and in the back of my head, I knew that I always wanted to be in the military.”

Mumma worked as an administrator filing paper work and then later become a quartermaster. As a quartermaster, Mumma sent supplies to soldiers on the battlefield.

“Quartermaster is a fancy way of saying getting the bullets and the bread to the killers,” Mumma said.

Mumma enlisted before September 11th and later enrolled out of the military in 2006 due to his son’s medical condition.

“It just so happened that at the time that the Army was ramping up to put in a presence in Iraq, I was filing paper work to get out,” Mumma said. “To this day I feel terrible about that, but I needed to take care of my son.”

Pyle math teacher Gary Witzenburg also spent time in the military. Read about his experience here.