When Samuel Rashe enrolled at Merced College in 2013, it was his second attempt at a college education.
He’d been away for 15 years before that, having successful careers with the U.S. Air Force and as a deputy sheriff in New Mexico.
Even though Rashe was an adult the second time around, college was still new. Now a senior planner with Madera County, Rashe said the support from enthusiastic veterans running the 1st Lt. Peter J. Gallo Veterans Resource Center (VRC) at Merced College helped him ace his reboot.
“I remember the first time I went to the Veterans Center, I was pretty nervous,” Rashe said. “The person gave me some directions about where I should go and what to do, and I guess I retreated a little. So the person said, ‘OK, come with me. I’ll show you.’”
That small gesture unlocked a door.
“They took a hands-on approach, and that relieved my anxiety,” he said. “Then my counselor told me what all of it was about.
“All the people at the center were veterans, too. They understood why I felt self-conscious. It’s because veterans have their own way of communicating. We see the world a little differently than everyone else. Having a network really helps.”
Rashe has long been the sort of person who could zero in on new challenges. But the first time he tried Merced College, straight out of Atwater High School, he wasn’t ready.
“I went for a couple of years and failed horribly,” he said. “I lacked focus.”
Rashe learned focus and discipline in spades while serving in the U.S. Air Force at Holloman AFB from 1998 to 2004. He worked there both with the Air Force and as a civilian in security forces at Holloman through 2008. By that time, Rashe was ready for a job change.
“Even as a civilian, I was a little restless,” he said. “I wasn’t ready to sit behind a desk. I wanted to be on the ground, in the community. So I became a cop for a while.”
Rashe served as a deputy sheriff in Doña Ana County in Las Cruces, N.M., from 2008-13. He and his wife Jennifer—they’d met at the Merced Mall as youngsters—then moved back home in 2013. He began thinking about his college experience, and it felt unfinished, which rankled him. He was ready to try again.
“The focus and the discipline I once lacked, I now had,” Rashe said. “That’s something the military taught me. I became very focused. I took my grades very seriously.”
Choosing a civilian career wasn’t difficult. While serving his country and his community, Rashe also nurtured a desire to study environmental restoration and urban planning. He earned a B.S. from San Jose State University, which has the oldest and one of the best environmental studies programs in the country, in 2018.
Now five years into this second act, Rashe has already helped complete important work for the City of Atwater, projecting housing, transportation and safety needs for the growth the city anticipates over the next 20 years.
Working with Madera County, Rashe is digging into the planning centered around two new developments in southeast Madera—Riverstone and Tesoro Viejo. You can feel his excitement about the possibilities when he explained that the work will be “like building a new city.”
Rashe, who also helped build up the veterans club at the college during his time there, wants all veterans to get the second chance he got.
“Some vets may not have an idea of what they want to do,” he said. “Going back to school after the military can be intimidating. I can’t speak more highly of the VRC, their networking with vets and support of vets.”
“Going back to school after the military can be intimidating. I can’t speak more highly of the Veterans Resource Center.”