While many other students are returning from Disney vacations and summer camps, Edna High School Senior Abigael Jordan is returning from something a little less relaxing.
Abigael, also known as PV2 Jordan after being one of only a few in her group to earn a promotion while in training, is part of the United States Army’s Split Option Program, a program that allows recruits to go to basic training after their junior year of high school, come back to attend their senior year, then return to their training after high school graduation.
She said she joined the Army National Guard to see and learn things outside of her hometown.
“Just to get new experiences and live life a little farther than just inside of Edna,” she said.
Now in her senior year, Abigael has shed her cam- ouflage for sequins and fringe of her Silver Spurs Uniform, but some of the skills she gained can do nothing but help her.
“It made me mature in a lot of ways,” she said. “I see things a little bit differently than I did. Everything I do now, I think of the long term of it.”
She chose radiology as her Military Occupational Specialty, and she plans to gather as many skills as she can in her time in the military. The Army offers college tuition benefits, which she plans to utilize as much as possible.
For now, though, it’s Friday night lights and study sessions, as she begins her senior year of high school with just a little more perspective than she had at the end of her junior year.
