Power skating, international military mom finds silver lining in lockdown
By: Max Reed
Global lockdown could not slow down Jennifer Kramer. When circumstances prevented her family from living overseas, she made new opportunities for herself, honing her mind and body as a Charger at The University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH).
“I'm a proud military spouse of 31 years,” Jennifer said, “and during that time, home has always been wherever the Army sends us.” After helping her husband move to his new station in South Korea, the plan was for Jennifer and her son to join him.
But then COVID struck and plans changed. “For the first time in my adult life, the Army wasn't providing a place for us to call home.” For more than three years, the Kramer family was separated by the Pacific Ocean. “[As] the shutdowns continued, my husband decided to come through on a promise he made when he proposed to me in 1991,” Jennifer said.
“I was not a college graduate, but he gave his word that if I would support his military career, sacrifice my own career goals for him, and raise our family in unconventional and likely very lonely conditions, he would ensure I finished my education as soon as we had an empty nest. Although we never envisioned it would happen under these conditions, ‘my turn’ had arrived!”
Jennifer began her collegiate journey at Calhoun Community College, before transferring to UAH in January 2023, with an unexpected speed bump early on. “As a management major, I had to take Business Transitions. One of our first assignments was to submit our resume,” Jennifer said, “and I came close to dropping the class over it!” With their family on deployment around the world, all of Jennifer’s job experiences were as a volunteer, and all were with references in other countries. As a stay-at-home wife and mother, Jennifer said she “had no idea how my skills translated into anything useful or valuable in the business world.” Then, after just one semester, Jennifer “not only managed to build a resume, but was grateful to accept a position working as a UAH College of Business Ambassador.”
But a lifelong dream of school wasn’t the only silver lining Jennifer found. “I used that time of [COVID] solitude to tackle anything in my life I could control. I started with my fitness level.” Jennifer had been a power skating coach, but “after a decade-plus of overseas living, indulging in wonderful German food and beer, I did not look like one!” She made a promise to herself, a new pair of skates, if she could get back to her competition weight by her 50th birthday. “I succeeded and still maintain a healthy body.”
Looking forward, Jennifer says, “family will always come first.” In addition to her husband and child, she helps care for her four grandchildren and her father. “Life may still hold many more challenges, but one thing I know for certain is that I love UAH. Go Chargers!”
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