Growing up in Atlanta, Janice Poe spent her whole life in the city, and always wanted to go to college. She thought joining the military would be the best way to pay for it and was fortunate to get into West Point. She thrived there for two years before realizing, just in time, that it wasn’t the best fit for her because she wanted to pursue advanced studies in the medical field. However, the long, rigid service commitment that comes after a West Point education wouldn’t guarantee a chance to go right away.
“I thought: Are you crazy? Are you really going to leave because you don’t want to make that commitment?” she says. “Now I realize it was the best decision I made in my life.”
Just 10 days after leaving West Point, Poe enlisted in the Army National Guard. It came with greater flexibility, and combined with a Minuteman scholarship, she’d have her college fees covered. Her plan was to get back to school, and she didn’t expect to get called for duty right away. That’s when COVID hit, and Poe found herself with a unit in rural Georgia on the front lines of pandemic relief.
First, she staffed a warehouse with consolidated medical supplies, helping to manage distributions of face masks, hand sanitizer and other protective equipment. After only three months, she earned a leadership position. She started running a project to get food to children who were learning from home while schools went to remote learning. Poe’s team helped to prepare and count meals, package onto buses and distribute them in areas of need.
“We had the same families who came every day, and I realized that school was the only time these children could get a meal,” Poe says. “It was really humbling to do something like that.”
When she wrapped that assignment, she was excited to be heading to Syracuse University. She found the liaison and process very helpful, especially since her circumstances were complicated.
“I genuinely felt they wanted what’s best for me,” she says. “They were just so helpful and inviting, I never felt like I didn’t belong here.”