Description
- Abstract:
- In this interview, Becky Scheusner, Brown University class of 2018, MPH 2026, and Office of Military Affiliated Students Program Coordinator, discusses her 11-year career in the Navy and her experiences as a student at Brown. Scheusner begins by describing her childhood in Kansas, her early education on Fort Leavenworth, and growing up with a father in the Air Force, a mother who ran an in-home daycare, and two brothers. She explains that while both brothers enlisted in the Navy, it was her Army Reserve band directors who encouraged her to join the Navy after high school in 2001. She recalls auditioning for the Navy band and being accepted one day before leaving for boot camp. She talks about her job as the laundry petty officer and goes on to describe the challenges of music education in A-School. She also shares her memories of the September 11, 2001 attacks that occurred during her time in A-School. Scheusner remembers her first duty station in New Orleans and traveling with the band to perform around the region. She specifically recalls experiencing hurricane Katrina there in 2005. Scheusner goes on to discuss her life after the Navy. She talks about moving to New Jersey to attend Rowan University to further her music education. She explains how one conversation with a professor and her husband’s Naval relocation to Rhode Island encouraged her to apply to Providence College and Brown. She shares her memories of being accepted to both schools and choosing to attend Brown for an undergraduate degree in urban studies. She explains the work she does on campus with military affiliated students including veterans and ROTC cadets. She touches upon how the United States political climate is impacting her work and drive to do good in the world. Toward the end of the interview, Scheusner recalls what it was like to be pregnant and breastfeeding in the military and also what it was like to be a pregnant undergraduate student at Brown. She specifically identifies Dean Maitrayee Bhattacharyya ’91 as someone who supported her through that time. In closing, Scheusner emphasizes the significance of her military service on her personal growth and life choices.
- Notes:
- Biographical/historical note: Becky (Mary) Scheusner grew up in Kansas with her father who was in the Air Force, her mother who ran an in-home daycare, two brothers, and a sister. She attended elementary school on Fort Leavenworth and moved to Lansing, Kansas, where she finished middle and high schools. She graduated high school in 2001 and immediately entered the Navy. She served in the Navy as part of the band for 11 years and was based in New Orleans, Virginia, and Hawaii. After her honorable discharge, Scheusner moved back to the east coast where she eventually enrolled at Brown University. She currently holds an AB in urban studies and will graduate with her master’s in public health in 2026. Scheusner is the program coordinator in the Office of Military Affiliated Students. She has two sons and a husband who is active duty in the Navy band.
- Class year: 2018
- Becky Scheusner, class of 2018, MPH 2026, Brown University Library
- Digital object made available by: Brown University Library, John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts, Box A, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, U.S.A., (http://library.brown.edu/)
Citation
"Becky Scheusner, class of 2018, MPH 2026"
Pembroke Center Oral History Collection.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:6tkfb52y/
Relations
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Collection:
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Pembroke Center Oral History Collection
This collection contains oral history interviews with alumnae of Brown University, which admitted its first women students in 1891. The Women's College at Brown was renamed Pembroke College in 1928, and in 1971, Pembroke College merged with the Men's College …...