Student Spotlight: Karly Marchand
Nov. 13, 2019
Most people who meet Karly Marchand would never guess she served in the United States
Army. Quiet and unassuming, the 22-year-old Glocester resident blends seamlessly with
fellow first-year students at the Community College of Rhode Island.
“Even my mother, she tells me all the time now, ‘I still can’t believe you did it.
That’s not you!’” Marchand says.
“But it was for the best.”
Two years ago, Marchand faced a major crossroads. She was in her second year at Johnson
& Wales University, having already switched majors several times, from Fashion Merchandising
to Accounting, followed by Sports, Entertainment and Events Management. From there,
she segued into wedding planning, transferring as a sophomore from Providence to JWU’s
campus in Charlotte, NC.
Marchand interned for an independent wedding planner in between classes in Charlotte,
and while she enjoyed the business, she wasn’t quite set on it as a career. Plus,
the cost of tuition and the impending debt she’d face after graduating remained a
concern.
“I was just trying to find the right fit,” she said.
Determined to change her trajectory, Marchand left JWU and enlisted in the U.S. Army
in January of 2017, six months shy of her 20thbirthday.
The plan was to serve in the U.S. National Guard, but less than a week before she
finished basic training, she got the call for her first and only deployment.
Some wait years to get that call, and some never get it at all, but, within 10 months
of enlisting, Marchand deployed to Kuwait, where she worked in the Army’s maintenance
unit processing inventory and ensuring vehicles were properly repaired. Seven months
later, the Army sent her to Iraq, an environment she described as hot and hazy, with
very little sunlight. Stationed near a combat zone, Marchand worked on a military
base separated from civilians by reinforced concrete T walls, designed to absorb the
impact from low-flying trajectories, such as missiles, or small firearms.
“It was nerve-wracking,” she said. “We were in a constant state of never knowing what
would happen next.”
Serving overseas, meeting new people and seeing the world opened new doors for Marchand
and helped shape her plan for the future.
She returned to Rhode Island in September of 2018, just a few weeks after the start
of the first semester for most college, and soon discovered CCRI’s Emergency Management
and Homeland Security program, which piqued her interest because of the variety of
potential careers within the field. Now in her first semester at CCRI, she is also
in the process of reenlisting in the National Guard for six more years, inspired by
the people she met and the friendships she developed serving overseas.
“Just like the Army was the right move for me, so is CCRI,” Marchand says. “When I
saw the college offered a program for Emergency Management and Homeland Security,
I thought to myself, ‘That is exactly what I want to do.’”
CCRI’s flexible schedule allows her to attend class full time while working weekends
at the National Guard and at T.F. Green Airport as a ramp agent for American Airlines.
She’s also thankful for the support from CCRI’s Student Veterans Organization, which
helped her with her initial paperwork in addition to finding the right options for
using her GI Bill®.
Marchand recently discovered the veterans’ lounge at the Knight Campus, too, where
she has met fellow veterans with similar experiences who relate to what she went through
readjusting to the college lifestyle.
“I definitely couldn’t do this by myself,” she says.
Now, with a lifetime of valuable experience behind her, and the support from CCRI’s
veterans’ community, Marchand is one step closer to finding her perfect fit.
Share this story
Latest News
World Languages student and Rhode Island native wins fifth Emmy Award for film-editing technology
December 13, 2024
Cranston, RI, native Thomas Ohanian, a World Languages & Cultures student completing his independent study, recently won his fifth Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award for co-inventing the Avid Multicamera System, a technology that has revolutionized the film-making and editing industry.
Read More
College's Division of Workforce Partnerships earns 2024 PACE-RI Academic Partnership Award
December 12, 2024
The Community College of Rhode Island’s Division of Workforce Partnerships has won the 2024 PACE-RI Academic Partnership Award for its work in developing free training programs to help upskill more than 50 employees through online trainings and in-person courses at PACE’s East Providence, RI, headquarters and CCRI’s Providence Campus.
Read More
CCRI Players tackle themes of doubt and uncertainty with final production of fall semester
December 12, 2024
Beginning today, the CCRI Players launch a four-day run of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable, produced by CCRI Performing Arts Professor Luke Sutherland and scheduled for five performances at the college’s Providence Campus Auditorium. Showtimes are 7:30 pm Thursday through Saturday with 2 pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
Read More
Employee Spotlight: Michael Marrapodi
November 27, 2024
Michael Marrapodi has joined CCRI as the new Executive Director of Online Learning. He has been involved with education since teaching music at a private school during his senior year of college in 1976 and is now an innovative leader in the online learning sector.
Read More
Second-year Biology student, PTK scholar helps feed the homeless one sandwich at a time
November 26, 2024
Eighteen-year-old Rhode Island Promise scholar and Warwick, RI, resident Lucas Johnson revived an old family tradition this past summer with Sandwich Party Sundays – a unique opportunity to spread joy and good cheer to Providence's homeless population each weekend at Kennedy Plaza.
Read More
Alumni Spotlight: Flavia A. Albert, M.A.
November 25, 2024
A Providence, RI, native, and Community College of Rhode Island Class of 2011 alumna, Flavia A. Albert, M.A., is on the verge of releasing her first children's book next month to combine her passion for behavioral health and early childhood development with her love for storytelling.
Read More
CCRI announces partnership with Building Futures to deliver new Apprenticeship Readiness program
November 22, 2024
With the support of a $250,000 workforce investment from the RI Department of Labor and Training (RI-DLT), the college will begin offering apprenticeship readiness programming in January through the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3), a comprehensive apprenticeship readiness curriculum that delivers an industry-recognized credential.
Read More
CCRI recognized as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting
November 20, 2024
For the past two election cycles, the Community College of Rhode Island has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge as part of its Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting recognition program.
Read More
Navy experience guides CCRI alumna in her new career as a full-time Communication professor
November 07, 2024
Assistant Communication and Film/Media professor Jennifer O'Rourke, a Warwick, RI, native and Class of 2007 graduate, is in her second year as a full-time faculty member after serving as a Mass Communication Specialist for the U.S. Navy.
Read More
Second high school joins CCRI's free advanced manufacturing dual-enrollment certificate program
October 29, 2024
One year after CCRI and North Kingstown High School partnered to launch the college's free Advanced Manufacturing Program for high school students interested in earning a Manufacturing and Design Certificate, Mount Pleasant High School has joined the program this fall to extend this unique opportunity to a group of 14 students.
Read More
CCRI receives grant to empower and celebrate First-Generation college students
October 24, 2024
The $1,000 grant will be used to support a First Generation Family Night event at CCRI’s Lincoln Campus on November 7 as part of its First-Generation College Celebration Day programming. First-Generation College Celebration Day is observed each year on November 8 to celebrate the success of first-generation college students, faculty, and staff who were the first in their families to graduate college.
Read More
Vampire love story takes center stage as CCRI Players launch 2024-25 season
October 23, 2024
The CCRI Players, the college's student-run theater group, kick off their fall semester this week at the Bobby Hackett Theatre with an adaptation of Let the Right One In, based off the best-selling 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
Read More
Employee Spotlight: Joshua Seguí-Rodríguez
October 21, 2024
In today’s Employee Spotlight, we meet CCRI's new Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Joshua Seguí-Rodríguez and uncover what inspired him to serve others, how he brought that passion to the forefront as a college student, and his unique skillset beyond the console.
Read More
Alumni Association inducts nine new members into Society of Knights and Squires
October 16, 2024
Nine Community College of Rhode Island alumni were inducted into the college’s Society of Knights and Squires as part of the CCRI Foundation and Alumni Association’s 2024 Outstanding Alumni Awards at the Warwick Campus.
Read More
Theater alum Wong becomes CCRI's fourth to earn Gamm fellowship in 2024-25
October 09, 2024
Allison “Sonny” Wong of Barrington, RI, a Class of 2024 graduate, is one of four fellows selected as part of the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre's 10-month 2024-25 Gamm Fellowship Program, which will be the theatre's 40th anniversary season.
Read More
Upcoming Events
Mar.
18
March 18, 2024 All Day
Flanagan Campus
May.
7
May 7, 2024 All Day
Dec.
14
December 14, 2024 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Liston Campus
Dec.
14
December 14, 2024 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Liston Campus
Dec.
15
December 15, 2024 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Liston Campus
Dec.
15
December 15, 2024 9:00 PM - 9:21 PM
Online
Dec.
16
December 16, 2024 All Day
Dec.
16
December 16, 2024 All Day
Dec.
16
December 16, 2024 All Day
Dec.
16
December 16, 2024 All Day