10-minute Q&As offer glimpse into military life

Thayer recently welcomed to campus U.S. Navy Ensign Sam Rando ‘18 and U.S Army Sgt. 1st Class Faith Patterson P ‘26 who each participated in rapid-fire interviews before audiences of Upper School students in the CFA. 

Both Rando and Patterson took part in “10 Minutes With …,” an occasional feature of Upper School assemblies where a guest answers a series of questions from Head of School Chris Fortunato P ‘26, ‘28 within a strict time allotment of 10 minutes. Rando, the daughter of Upper School World Languages Faculty Marc Rando P ‘18, ‘20 and Southworth Library Assistant Stephanie Rando ‘88 P ‘18, ‘20, visited her alma mater on Nov. 8 of last year (just prior to the celebration of Veteran’s Day). Patterson, mother of Abbie Dupie ‘26, visited Thayer on Jan. 24 of this year for her session. In these interviews, the two touched upon their calls to military service, the role of confidence in decision-making, and the importance of a support system in one’s life. 

“Just be confident,” said Rando, a 2023 graduate of the United States Naval Academy who will soon be one of the first two women assigned to the USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine currently undergoing renovations at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. “Trust in the knowledge that you have. People will see that, and they’ll respect you and listen to you.” 

Rando said that her decision to join the military was influenced by a school trip to the United States Military Academy at West Point as a Thayer eighth grader. She also credited Jim McVarish P ‘11, a retired Upper School science teacher as well as a 25-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, for helping her to navigate the various military paths open to her. 

Rando, who majored in computer engineering in the Naval Academy, is a commissioned submarine officer who recently graduated from Nuclear Power School, widely acknowledged as the most demanding academic program in the U.S. military, and followed that with a successful completion of what’s known as “Prototype Training.” She described the former as the academic side of nuclear reactors and their connected electrical systems while the latter, she said, is more about hands-on application of that knowledge. 

“You’re training to stand watch as an engineer officer, which is the officer in charge of the entire power plant,” Rando said of the Prototype Training. 

For Patterson, currently the assistant chief radiographer at Boston Children’s Hospital, the decision to become an Army reservist occurred during her junior year at Boston College. She had been taking premed courses at BC but hadn’t worked in a hospital, so she wanted to make sure that the medical field was right for her. The military, she said, helped to pay for college as well as her further education. It also allowed her to travel the world, from Germany to Italy to Kosovo to Kuwait, and that’s not to mention her travels across most of the United States. 

But the military is also about sacrifice, including lengthy overseas deployments, a burden she emphasized is borne not only by the soldier but by the soldier’s family and the soldier’s community. In fact, a recent deployment meant that she could not see her teenage daughter for more than a year. 

“For a mom, that’s a pretty hard pill to swallow,” she told the audience. 

But she thanked family, friends, and the Thayer community for lessening that burden however they could. 

“The support comes in different forms, and I’m grateful for that,” Patterson said. 

Patterson’s job caring for service members — such as her deployment in Kuwait during the first Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield / Operation Desert Storm) can be a difficult one, but she said she and her team members rely upon “the muscle memory” of great training. 

“Our motto is ‘We Train As We Fight,’” she told students. “Our training entails a lot of the things that we will encounter wherever we go.” Moments later she added: “It’s your training that gets you through.” 

Patterson discussed the concept of “failing forward” and told students that it’s okay to make mistakes as long as they become teaching moments. 

“There’s a lot you can learn when you fail,” she said. 

But she also told students to find their real strength by believing in themselves. 

“Embrace who you are,” she said. “You are a beautiful person.”