The first step: Yasmine Moukadam
Discipline learned at Ohio State aids recent grads quest to be a Navy pilot
After graduating with a degree in aviation engineering and earning a commission as a U.S. Navy ensign, Yasmine Moukadam hit the road this summer.
For days and days, Yasmine drove across the country to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California, where she is pursuing a master’s degree focused on regional security studies, with a concentration in the Middle East.
The plan is to graduate in June before another trip across the country to Pensacola, Florida, where she begins flight school with the ultimate goal of becoming a Navy pilot.
“At this point, every professor I’ve ever had knows about my dream of becoming an aviator,” she jokes.
But the transition has been demanding. At NPS, Yasmine is juggling a heavy schedule of classes, research and a thesis she must complete in just four quarters. Her coursework requires extensive reading — often 150 to 200 pages per night — and writing papers, such as a 5,000-word piece examining why people in the West become radicalized, due by the end of the quarter.
But her time at Ohio State prepared her to grind. At one point, Yasmine took 21 credit hours. Most of her semesters carried 18 or more, while she balanced Navy ROTC, exercise, sleep and a life outside the classroom.
“I wouldn’t be doing as well as I am right now without those skills,” she said.
At NPS, that discipline has become essential. Her Google Calendar is blocked out nearly minute by minute; even her sleep is scheduled. She studies, works out twice a day (with plans to run a half-marathon this fall) and often remains in the library until it closes.
Ohio State also gave her a foundation in writing and research that has helped ease the academic transition. A freshman course taught her how to build a literature review and conduct research, skills she now draws on in graduate school. When a professor recently approved her proposal for her first major paper at NPS, Yasmine realized she wasn't starting from scratch.
But Yasmine knows how to adapt. Born in Virginia, raised in England, graduating from Ohio State, she may be thousands of miles from family and friends, but she’s finding her footing one assignment, workout, friendship and California adventure at a time. And wherever the Navy ultimately takes her, she knows where the foundation was built.
“I'm, like, very locked in, I guess you can say in simple terms,” Yasmine says. “And I got that discipline from Ohio State, 1,000%.”