New England College was founded in 1946 to help veterans return to college after World War II. This series of articles will highlight veteran students, staff, and faculty whose post-service paths led them to New England College.
The New Englander met with two students at New England College who both served 20-plus years in the U.S. military. Johnathon and Jennifer Parker are a married couple both seeking degrees in photography, and they are both recently retired Air Force Veterans.
Jennifer was in the service for 22 years, retiring as a Force Support Manager. Johnathon served in Space Systems Operations at satellite command control for 20 years. They both experienced many things in the military that have led them to their newest adventure at NEC.
“So, we joined right out of high school, got married, and then left for the Air Force,” Jennifer said.
“It’s almost like coming out of high school again, trying to figure it out, and then you quickly realize that people don’t have the same discipline,” Johnathon added.
The couple have settled down near the New England College campus, which they toured and decided was the best option for them.
“So what was, I think, fascinating piece of NEC specifically, was that it was built for returning military, by returning military, and so that also has like, a little piece of, oh, this is kind of of cool,” Jennifer said.
In the service, they learned many things about themselves.
“For me it was resiliency,” Jennifer said, about her most important life skill learned. “Resiliency, timeliness, attention to detail: those are the small things that just don’t go away, which is good.”
“The people side of it is the most important things I took away from it,” Jennifer added. “Like my role as a Force Listed Manager was taking care of people, and not just the mission, but each person as a person from the outside. To actually pay attention and ask, not just, ‘hey, how was your weekend?; Ask a question pertinent to, ‘what did you do this weekend?’ Versus just, you know, keeping your blinders on.”
“Probably the most useful [skill] is just confidence when you’re dealing with others in public situations,” Johnathon said. “So, like either of us could just hop up in front of the class or whatever and just talk away and be perfectly comfortable with that. That’s where we find a lot of folks here are skittish and gun shy. They’ve just never been exposed to that.”
“The most important, I would definitely think is the resilience side of it,” Johnathon said regarding the useful and important things he has taken away in the service and his ability to be calm amid things like untrue or exaggerated media. “Because you can just work with anything that’s happening, and a lot of stuff we can realize that it isn’t that important on the broader scale of things, and then it just doesn’t have much impact on us.”
Both veterans also thought an attribute from the service was their ability to manage time well.
“There’s military memes and stuff that are like, the military members showing up 15 minutes early and just sitting in their car in the parking lot. That’s very true,” Johnathon said. “When you’re in the service, you’re always kind of conscious of being on time.”
Veterans have been a huge part of the NEC community for years, and the Parkers are an example of the people in which our school was built to provide for.
“You’re breaking it down to the basic level: how to make your bed, how to fold your sheets, how to do your laundry. They break you down to the lowest, and then they give you tools build you back up to be the best person that you could be,” Jennifer said about what basic training did for her.
She went on to tell us about how the transition after retirement shifted her life. She said both experiences are ones she recommends.
“The discipline you build, the comraderies you build, like a tight knit family, the resiliency of always moving and like adjusting to new things is easier, or it makes it easier, like coming and enrolling at NEC was eye opening for me,” Jennifer said.
Jennifer and Johnathon Parker standing by the New England College sign on Bridge Street, on Sept. 22, 2025.
Jennifer and Johnathon Parker in the Great Room of the Simon Center on Sept. 22, 2025.
