(Editor's note: This story is from the May 2016 issue of GCU Today Magazine. To view the digital version of the magazine, click here.)
By Jeannette Cruz
GCU Today Magazine
Kelsey Davis had it all figured out. After research, trial and error and some guidance from her mentors, she had settled on a degree in criminal justice from Grand Canyon University and planned to become an FBI agent.
Then it hit her. She was at The Gathering, the student worship service on Tuesday nights, only weeks before graduation last year and was reflecting on the many leadership roles she had held at GCU. Suddenly, she felt a frightening and yet fitting calling from the Lord.
She needed to join the military. And, as it turned out, not just any branch of the military — she eventually decided to enlist in the toughest one of all, the Marine Corps.
“Joining the military sounds crazy to me,” Davis confessed to her peers. “But it also brings to mind the thought of the disciples as Jesus comes to the water and all of the disciples but Peter sit in the boat. Peter is the safest because he’s looking into the eyes of Jesus. That is my goal, to be like Peter.”
Davis, 23, said that for a long time she struggled with the thought of becoming a Marine, but after meeting with a recruiter she instantly changed her mind.
She took on 12 weeks of intense classroom, drills and field training at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., where she was the second youngest member and one of 65 women in her platoon. In November, she graduated as second lieutenant along with 27 others who made it through the course.
Since then, she has been training at The Basic School in Quantico to prepare for duty. As a newly commissioned Marine officer, Davis already has made a good impression by outshooting the males and earning two Expert Marine Corps Marksmanship Qualification Badges, one for the service rifle and one for the service pistol.
When she completes her training in July, Davis will move on to a military occupational specialty school, where the Marine Corps will determine which career Davis will tackle.
“The Marine Corps is everything that I have wanted to be and everything that I know I have the potential to be,” Davis said. “It is surrounded by wholehearted leadership, pride and honor, and it encourages that a limit does not exist.”
Davis said her degree is only a small part of what she got out of GCU.
“I always knew God had brought me to GCU to find my purpose,” she said. “I don’t think anyone saw this coming — I didn’t see this coming. But one thing I’ve learned through this experience is that God does not make any mistakes.”
Contact Jeannette Cruz at (602) 639-6631 or [email protected].
