Catherine Hale completed her five-year contract in the United States military and began her studies towards a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree at The Boston Architectural College (BAC) just a few days later in January 2022.

She shakes her head. “It’s crazy. I grew up in Maine in a town so rural that we had to drive an hour just to get to the movies. Now I live in Boston and take the subway to school every day.”

The exciting new location wasn’t the only difference in Catherine’s new life chapter. Virtually everything had changed. Just a month prior as a Master of Arms for the U.S. Navy she’d been stationed on the island of Crete in Greece, armed, and outfitted in full tactical gear. Often she could be found aboard a boat, patrolling the harbor and escorting U.S. Navy ships into port on demanding 12-hour shifts.

Prior to being stationed abroad, Catherine was placed on a large Naval base attached to a Marine Corps Battalion in Washington state for three years, where she and her team were tasked with keeping a secured area safe and inspecting all the vehicles that entered and exited. It was tiring work that required bulletproof vests, gas masks, and other heavy gear, but more than anything, it demanded attention to detail, teamwork, and unwavering concentration.

These leadership qualities have continued to serve Catherine well at the BAC, where she is pursuing a concentration in landscape architecture. “I’m starting College at 25,” she explains. “I’ve got real drive to be here, professionalism, and a lot of respect for my professors.”

It was for the practical education and one-on-one interaction with faculty that Catherine chose the BAC. Her father, an engineer, had urged her to consider drafting courses because of her love for drawing. When she found the BAC and learned about landscape architecture’s connection to drafting, drawing, and regional horticulture, she decided that the program was the right fit.

“Growing up in Maine, I was close to nature at a camp my grandfather built. I spent my summers kayaking, canoeing, swimming, and hiking. The idea of taking a little piece of land in the city and bringing nature to people living there really interested me,” she explains. Her instinct was on point.

It became clear to Catherine almost immediately that she’d made the right choice. In her first semester, she was deeply impacted by Foundation Studio One, a required class taught by Lee Peters, Director of Foundation Studios at the BAC. “It was very rigorous,” Catherine admits, “but I’m so glad that I had him as my professor. He really set the standard for design for us, and his lectures flipped a switch in my mind in terms of how design thinking is structured.”

The biggest challenge Catherine has faced in her transition to civilian life is reconnecting with her artistic self. “In the military, I didn’t have an outlet for expressing my creative side. I totally forgot how to access it and it took me a while to get it back.”

What she did bring right away was the ability to manage time, construct models precisely, and organize projects—skills that one of her classmates suggested must come directly from her service years. In exchange, Catherine says, “Watching other students around me has helped bring back my creativity. We get inspiration from each other.”

These days, Catherine is pouring herself into her course requirements, seeking out her first internship, and enjoying living with her boyfriend, also a veteran, whom she dated long distance for four years while they both served in the military.

As a veteran herself, Veterans Day is incredibly meaningful to Catherine. “To me, that day is about being thankful,” Catherine says. “I always had so much respect for those that served, but now that I’ve served myself it’s a different type of respect for those who put their lives on the line.”

She doesn’t take their generosity for granted. Each day she comes to school with a purpose–to learn, engage, and make a difference with her presence.

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