Celebrating Our Student Veterans

President Jennifer Raab and the entire Hunter College community celebrate our student veterans and thank them for their service to our country.  We are honored that they have chosen to continue their studies at Hunter.

Martin Cuevas, born and raised in Brooklyn, enlisted in the Army National Guard in 2009 as a medic, where his duties included both traditional battlefield medicine andcommunity health. Last year, on orders from Governor Cuomo, his unit was activated to provide support during Hurricane Sandy, and he was deployed to Long Island on a six-month mission that included rescue efforts, security operations, and coordination with emergency organizations like FEMA and the Red Cross.

Cuevas is pursuing a BS in Community Health and expects to graduate in May 2015.

Sean Fielding joined the United States Air Force in 1960. He served active duty in the National Guard and the reserves for 34 years, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.

After a career in aerospace technology, Fielding returned to school to pursue new interests. Fielding is earning his master’s degree in anthropology and expects to graduate in Spring 2014.

Tekesha Terry is from Martinsville, VA, and has served in the Air Force as a medical technician since 2000. Stationed at permanent bases in Alabama, Japan, and Italy, she has served as a medic on counter-narcotics missions out of Curacao, refueling missions out of Turkmenistan for Operation Enduring Freedom, and on missions to identify unaccounted-for Americans in Laos and Vietnam.

It hasn't all been work, though. Terry has been to over twenty-seven countries since joining the Air Force, notably spending Thanksgivings past taking in the Great Wall of China and Pyramids of Egypt.

Terry is a post-baccalaureate student fulfilling prerequisites as she prepares for nursing school in the spring.

From Warrington, PA, William Pfunk continued his family's tradition of service when he joined the United States Army Reserves in 2006.

Pfunk, who works in military intelligence, was deployed to Iraq in 2008, where he served for a year and was promoted to Sergeant. Pfunk also recalls proudly the 68th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, where he was a member of the Honor Guard celebrating WWII veterans.

Pfunk commutes two hours from his home in Pennsylvania to Hunter, where he takes an 18-credit course load, while also managing to work full time at a steel plant in New Jersey.

In 2012 Pfunk reenlisted in the Army Reserves for an additional six years. His major is Political Science and he expects to graduate in May 2014.

Gene Richter has served in the Air Force as a commissioned officer for 14 years, with six on active duty and the remainder in the Reserves. He has served on five continents, supporting combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and assistance missions in South America and the Korean peninsula. 

As an intelligence officer, Richter worked with sophisticated surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. He has served at the US Air Force Headquarters in Europe as an international affairs officer, and in Italy as a senior intelligence officer.  His current assignment is in Washington, DC.

Richter is earning a masters degree in Geography and expects to graduate in Spring 2014. After graduation, he will continue to serve in the Reserves while pursuing a career in geospatial intelligence.