The Columbia College Naval Station Everett Campus recently announced that Enginemen 1st Class (SW/AW) Jerod Viall is the recipient of the college’s spring semester Harry Carter Memorial Scholarship. 

The scholarship, worth $150, is awarded to a deserving Columbia College student each semester to help defray the cost of textbooks. 

Viall, works for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility on board NAVSTA Everett as the divisional leading petty officer for the production maintenance division.

“I’m getting a bachelor in finance and business. I started going to school back in 1999, I’ve been in the Navy since 1993,” said Viall. “I plan on integrating my Navy experience and background with my business education after I retire. I also have an associate’s degree in applied science as a maintenance mechanic. The chain of command wheels and deals with me for whatever I need.”

Viall, a full-time student with a 4.0 GPA, and a full time job, also manages to maintain a family life with his wife Kari, and his two children.

“Going to school while in the Navy has benefited my husband’s life, because it makes his resume much more appealing as far as jobs are concerned,” said Kari, who is also an academic advisor at Columbia College. “With his degree and Navy experience combined he will definitely be able to get a job, that’s the whole reason he is doing a business degree.”

“The hardest thing about balancing school, family, and work is finding the time and deciding what’s important, and what needs to be done first,” Kari added. “Our kids know their dad is going to college, so they all do homework together, but it gives them good study habits because there dad’s doing it, so they have to do it.”

When asked what he would differently if he could start from day one of his Navy career, Viall said, “I would have paced myself a little bit better. I first started when my youngest was a few months old and that was really difficult.”