graduating aggie conquers adversity: from high school dropout to deputy corps commanderveteran ennis rios hard work earned him a coveted leadership position and a geography degreemay 6 2019ennis rios '19 (photo courtesy of the texas a&m corps of cadets)ennis rios '19 (r) discussing field work with dr stacey lyle (l) geography assistant professor of practice (photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciences)texas a&m was it for me that is where i wanted to be and that was the ultimate goal these are the aspirational words of ennis rios ‘19 the 2018-19 deputy corps commander of the texas a&m corps of cadets and a geographic information sciences and technology (gist) senior in the department of geography in the college of geosciences while the path that led rios to texas a&m was not always an easy one he has persevered in the face of adversity and will graduate this month although he did not know it at the time his road to texas a&m started when rios dropped out of high school i didnt really know what my cap on success would be rios said looking back i had set the bar for myself fairly low uncertain of where his life was headed rios decided to join the united states navy rios joined the navy as a radioman in 1999 and spent 15 years working in a range of fields from network security management to naval special warfare his last position in naval special warfare landed him in stuttgart germany where he met his future wife ambyr a 2008 aggie graduate i didnt know anything about texas a&m or texas in general so when i saw her aggie ring i asked her about it he said after that first introduction to aggieland rios set his sights on texas a&m when it came time to transition out of the military i knew i wanted to go to college and i had my hopes set on texas a&m overcoming adversity as a non-traditional student after completing his time in the navy rios faced significant challenges in applying to texas a&m i dropped out of high school i had no sat scores and i had no college credits from my time in the military he said i wanted to go to a&m but i did not have the credentials twenty-seven days after leaving the military rios started at del mar community college in corpus christi with the help of the texas a&m veteran resource and support center (vrsc) rios was able to focus his energy on the courses that would help him transfer into a program he would be interested in a year and a half out there was no guarantee that i was going to continue school or make it to a&m but the vrsc was persistent in its support of my goal to get here someday eventually after taking all the classes that he could transfer rios decided it was time to apply to texas a&m my wife and i decided that next semester it was not worth using my veterans benefits to take classes that wouldnt transfer so it was time to start submitting applications with texas a&m at the top of his list rios submitted the application to texas a&m first in almost no time rios hard work had paid off the steady march through community college after more than a decade without school had led to this moment before i had the chance to start on the applications to other schools i received my acceptance to a&m rios started at texas a&m in the spring of 2017 veteran support at texas a&m made all the difference rios experience as a radioman and an information systems technician in the navy led him to major in gist the major provided him with the opportunity to combine the skills he learned in the military with a field that he is now passionate about i love this stuff rios said i can be a part of producing quality products that others can useennis rios '19 with fellow gist senior mariam moeen '19 photo by: chris mouchyn texas a&m geosciencesin addition to focusing on his studies rios has been a member of the corps of cadets while at texas a&m and served as the 2018-19 deputy corps commander he has also been a member of the prestigious ross volunteer company he began his time at texas a&m as a member of delta company an outfit in the corps specifically organized for combat veterans the corps has been really rewarding and i have met a lot of great people through my position in the corps rios said when i look at what i got to do while ive been here the bonds i have been able to make through the corps the ross volunteers and the deputy corps commander position it has been really rewarding rios credits his success as a student veteran to his experiences in delta company the group provides support for individuals from different backgrounds but with shared life experiences since veterans often have lower graduation rates compared to other students delta company provides combat veterans with a community that understands the challenges they face one of the things that came out of the quick research i did was that what does make veterans successful in college is finding a team similar to what they had in the military he said getting here i tried to surround myself with a good team of people so that we could move through the mission of school together looking back over the years since he left the military there are a few things that rios wishes he could pass on to the people who are in a similar position to the one he was in in 2015 as i approach graduation i have thought a lot about how i wish i could tell my friends that are still in the military or just got out ‘hey i know you talked about going to college or mentioned it in chats here and there but man you can do it i am about to graduate looking to the future rios has been accepted into the masters program in the texas a&m department of geography he hopes to focus his graduate studies at the confluence between hydrology and human-environment interactions by rhett douris