UNK greek grad takes leadership to new level |
| Posted by Administrator on Aug 29 2008 at 1:33 PM |
Brian Kimmins, a 2008 UNK graduate from Monroe, NY, was recently promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. Kimmins hopes to one day learn to fly an F-18 Hornet be a Blue Angel.
By Garrett Ritonya
Antelope Staff
Brian Kimmins is not your everyday college graduate. While other students are looking at getting jobs in cubicles that require being locked inside all day, Kimmins will be flying high above them as a part of the Marine Corps. All of this was made possible because of his promotion to 2nd Lieutenant on Monday afternoon.
Kimmins, an August 2008 Graduate of UNK from Monroe, NY, took that next step into becoming a military pilot in the Fireplace Lounge, located inside of the Nebraskan Student Union. Many of Kimmins' closest family members came to watch the special occasion, including relatives from New York, Arizona, Colorado and Kansas. This has been a dream in the making for Kimmins, who always knew he wanted to become a pilot with the military.
"I was originally born in Tucson and lived across the street from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. My earliest memory is watching a pair of A-10s taking off and circling over my neighborhood. That is when I knew that becoming a military pilot was what I wanted to become," Kimmins said.
While at UNK, Kimmins participated in many campus activities: residential advisor in CTE, Secretary/Treasurer of the all-Greek organization GAMMA and his proudest achievement, being elected president of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He said the leadership principles he learned while in a fraternity helped him accomplish goals and tasks better.
Kimmins attributes many of his fraternity values to the way he lives as member of the Marine Corps and vice versa.
"Marine values are honor, courage and commitment, and in my time as president of my fraternity, I tried to demonstrate and carry them into the civilian world to make my fraternity better," Kimmins said. "Also, being in a fraternity has helped me function better as a team and will only assist me later on in my career as an officer of the Marine Corps."
Kimmins first joined the Air National Guard (Air Force) in October of 2002 where he worked as an Avionics Technician. In July of 2006, he became a pilot in the Marine Corps, hence the switch from Air Force to Marines.
While in the Air Force, however, he had the honor of traveling across the globe, including countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey.
The next step for 2nd Lieutenant Kimmins will be traveling to Pensacola, Fla., for six months to participate in the necessary flight training school, where his dream is to learn to fly an F-18 Hornet and become a member of the famed Blue Angels.
"I really enjoyed my time in Kearney and UNK. Being from New York, the people were just overall nicer and the university seemed more like a family than just a plain old school at times," Kimmins said. "Although I am going to miss it, I am eager to apply what I've learned at college and to give back to my country.
