Public Relations Junior Juggles Classes and Service in the Florida Air National Guard

By Lenore Devore, B.S. Journalism 1984

COVID disrupted Connor Ferguson’s plans to play football after high school, but it also directed him to a new, intersecting career path – serving his country as part of the Florida National Guard’s 125th Fighter Wing in Jacksonville and working toward a degree in public relations at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC).

He’s juggling both now with an end goal of working for NASA or doing PR for a sports team.

He’s been influenced by his uncle and grandfather, who both served in the Air Force, and his mentor, Jarrod Bales, an education and outreach coordinator for NASA’s Launch Service Program.

“I wanted to play football, then COVID hit,” said Ferguson, a Florida Air National Guard crew chief. “I talked with my uncle, a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee Air National Guard. He told me this was an opportunity to learn about aviation and work on F-15s as a crew chief.”

Ferguson grew up in Titusville, Florida, a two-hour drive from Jacksonville, Florida. “My uncle said I could go to Jacksonville once a month and serve our country as well as get my school paid for – and they will train you. I enlisted on Dec. 18, 2020, went to boot camp and then 11 months of schooling and on-the-job training to become a tactical aircraft maintenance specialist.”

Now, once a month he serves as a crew chief. More training is imminent as the 125th Fighter Wing phases out F-15s for fifth-generation F-35s, he said.

Balancing military and school life is difficult, he said, but the National Guard pays 100% of his education up to a master’s degree, including a Montgomery GI Bill that can help pay for books and housing.

In the Air National Guard, Ferguson was activated during hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton, convening at Camp Blanding in Starke, Florida, before the hurricanes hit.

Debby struck in August 2024. “Once they figure out where the devastation has occurred and what areas need help, they send us out. For Debby, we were sent to a neighborhood in Manatee County where a dam was about to overflow. If it did, it would have caused extreme devastation. We were sent there to put up temporary Tiger Dams to direct the water in different directions.”

Hurricane Milton struck Florida on Oct. 8. Shortly afterward, Ferguson and his team of 30 airmen were sent to the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village retirement community in Fort Pierce, where at least six had died.

“It wasn’t in an evacuation zone and wasn’t supported to get hit hard,” Ferguson said. “But there were more than a dozen tornadoes that came through that little community and tore the place up. They sent us there and we set up a pod in their clubhouse where 589 vehicles passed through. We distributed 659 cases of water, 366 cases of MREs (meals ready to eat), 242 tarps and 281 bags of ice.”

They also supplied hot meals, supplementing what local churches and others were providing, he said. “It was a strenuous process. They didn’t tell us when we were going to go home.”

But, he knew he was helping others and felt satisfaction in that. “A lady came up to me and said, ‘We just got into retirement and closed on this house five days ago, and now our house is gone.’ Another time, I handed a lady a gallon of cold milk and Frosted Flakes and she broke down in tears. They had nothing. It was just a gesture of giving someone cereal so they could eat; it was a lot of emotions.”

Having grown up in Florida, he was used to hurricanes, knowing he could be without power for a few days or something similar. He had not experienced what he saw in Fort Pierce.

“You don’t know the reality of it until you see that devastation firsthand,” Ferguson said. “Roofs and wood and shingles – everything was everywhere. There were no houses where there were supposed to be. Just debris laying around. It was very eye opening.”

Despite being activated for 10 days and on location for four, he knew others in his squadron had it worse. Some left their spouses and kids behind in Tampa, he said. “Their houses were under water; their spouse and kids had to deal with that.”

He feels lucky being single at this time in his life, able to help others. “It’s our responsibility to be that light for those people. You have to leave what you’re dealing with and put that on the side. My friend and I had a meal with a 67-year-old widow. Just to sit down and eat with and talk with her meant so much. There are so many things we take for granted until it happens to us.”

He juggles all that while attending UFCJC. He earned his associate’s degree at Tallassee State College and then, after serving in the National Guard, applied to the College.

Set to graduate in 2026, the lifelong Gator fan said he’s already learned a lot in just two months in the College.

“At UFCJC, the power of words and the way people choose to tell their stories is something that has stuck out to me,” he said. “Reading my fellow classmates’ stories, how people can use their words to create a story, an image you can picture in your head as you’re reading it, that can take your story and bring it life.”

He chose public relations because he enjoys talking with people. “I have always enjoyed diving deeper into the reasons why people do things, what makes them tick, make them work, decide what they want.”

Growing up on the Space Coast, he’s always felt at home with aviation and aerospace – but not numbers, and he didn’t think you could work for NASA if you didn’t have an engineering degree. Then he met Jarrod Bales, a Gator alumnus, who has become a mentor.

During his 2023 internship as an educational and outreach specialist, he represented NASA in outreach efforts at elementary schools, public libraries and summer camps to help strengthen relationships between NASA and communities. He also developed and facilitated STEM education activities designed to get kids excited about space exploration and science in general.

“It was really rewarding to share NASA’s mission, goals and achievements, and help people feel more connected to what NASA is doing.”

He also helped with the Gator Experience program, where Gator athletes travel to Kennedy Space Center to learn more about the programs there. He sat on a panel to discuss opportunities those athletes could have with the Launch Services Program.

He’s learning from Bales, who created “micro-internships” for SEC athletes with “unconventional” schedules to intern at KSC a week at a time.

He’s grateful to Bales for taking him under his wing.

“He opened the door for me to get an internship with launch services,” Ferguson said. “Before that, I hadn’t made up my mind what I wanted to do. I sat down with their PR person Jessica Paglialonga and listened to her job and found that is something I am interested in. That’s the direction I’m pursuing right now.”

Posted: October 29, 2024
Category: College News, Profiles, Student Profiles
Tagged as: Air National Guard, Connor Ferguson, Hurricanes