Crawford Alumni Center
Tech Took Us There
U.S. Army Captain says Tennessee Tech communication degree and ROTC prepared her to serve, educate and lead
As Tennessee Tech’s newspaper, The Oracle, celebrates its 100th anniversary this month,
one communication alumna is using her experience on The Oracle staff to serve her
country.
Capt. Melissa Edwards (`14 communication) serves in the United States Army as a Human Resources Department director and U.S. Element Company Commander for the North Atlantic Treaty School (NATO) in Oberammergau, Germany, and she credits her communication degree and experience in Tech’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) for instilling service, education and leadership skills.
“I followed my true strengths and passions for writing, history and news, and being a communications major allowed me to tap into all of those interests and meet like-minded people,” Edwards said. “I really enjoyed interviewing students and staff for my beat stories as a member of The Oracle.”
Edwards says favorite Tech memories include being a member of Omega Phi Alpha sorority, attending Window on the World and Backdoor Playhouse performances, meeting international students through the Tech Buddies program, supporting home football games as a member of the Color Guard and Cannon Crew and, of course, meeting friends at Ralph’s Donuts.
Edwards became one of the first female cadet battalion commanders in Tech ROTC and says the program instilled courage and confidence.
“I remember the anxiety I had every semester walking to Memorial Gym for ROTC’s combat water survival test,” she said. “Passing this swim test was an Army commissioning requirement. I was such a bad swimmer that the ROTC program actually paid for my swimming lessons at the YMCA. Because of that experience, I eventually grew to love swimming, and I still love it to this day.”
Edwards admits Tech’s ROTC program was rigorous but is grateful for tough lessons that helped shape her into the person she is today.
“As one of the few female and minority cadets in my class, I very often learned the importance of resilience and not letting social barriers discourage me from pursuing opportunities,” she said. “During my sophomore year, I almost left the program because I decided that I didn’t fit in. Little did I know, my parents contacted my ROTC professors, and they reinforced in me that I had great potential that I shouldn’t waste. I didn’t know that my parents did that until after I graduated. I’m very thankful for their support and for the professors who encouraged me to stay on this career path.”
After graduating from Tech in 2014, Edwards was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army as a Human Resources Officer. Within six months of arriving at her first assignment with the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C., she was deployed to Liberia as a platoon leader in charge of 20 soldiers during the Ebola crisis.
“I quickly learned the art and science of leadership – building a cohesive team and inspiring others to follow,” she said. “This assignment also demonstrated the best example of comradery. As paratroopers, we are trained to jump from planes during airborne training and operations. Serving in these units instilled a deep sense of pride in me because of paratroopers’ esteemed history and admirable actions during World War II.”
Edwards was eventually assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Ky.
“This was very special to me, because both of my parents served with that unit as well,” she explained.
She deployed to Ukraine in 2019 for seven months and helped train Ukrainian soldiers on warfighting doctrine against the growing Russian threat.
“That deployment truly changed my life in many ways,” she said. “I met my fiancé who is a Polish Army officer. I also learned just how much I enjoy interacting with different cultures and the gift I had for learning new languages. To this day, I remain close friends with some of the Ukrainian linguists that I served with.”
Today, Edwards provides human resources support to a multinational staff of 200 personnel that includes 22 NATO and Partner nations. She also manages recruitment operations for the school to help meet its mission to conduct education and training in support of current and developing NATO operations, policy and doctrine. Upon promotion to major this summer, she will be stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for 10 months at the Command General Staff College where she plans to pursue a master’s degree in operational studies.
Edwards says her career combines the best parts of her Tech experience: majoring in communication and completing the ROTC program.
“It’s so important to pay attention to U.S. politics, news and the developing international crisis,” she said. “Many Americans mistakenly assume that we are out of sight and out of mind from global threats; however, in today’s world we are seeing history repeat itself in negative ways that could impact our society as well. My experience as a communication major helps me communicate clearly and effectively to wide audiences. It also taught me the importance of being an unbiased leader. Just as a news writer must remain unbiased and share facts with the public, I, too, must make clear decisions based on facts. Tennessee Tech taught me how to do that.”
