Each year, we at New Mexico Financial & Family Law award $1,000 to a deserving member of our nation’s armed forces with the intent of aiding them through higher education. This year, we are proud to announce the recipient of the 2024 Veterans’ Scholarship: Ke’Undra Gibson of Prattville, Alabama.
Ke’Undra is an exemplar of outstanding service and dedication to her family, community, and country. This is the story of her personal growth that makes her our clear choice amongst a pool of highly qualified applicants.
Ke’Undra’s military service began when she joined the United States Air Force after high school. For nearly two decades, she has worked her way to a stable career, eventually landing a leadership role as the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) Operations Superintendent for the Southeast Region at the Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
In this role, Ke’Undra manages more than 200 active-duty personnel and 38 senior detachments spread across nine states and Puerto Rico. Additionally, she oversees the training of nearly 5,000 officer candidates a year—an impressive scope of responsibility and an even greater demonstration of leadership skills in practice.
Equally impressive as Ke’Undra’s military career is her pursuit of academic success. She is currently a student taking up her doctorate in Business Administration at National University (formerly Northcentral University), with a number of other degrees under her belt.
Ke’Undra has a Master’s degree in Health Care Administration from American Military University, a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland University College, and two undergraduate degrees from the Community College of the Air Force in Human Resource Management and Information Management.
More than a demonstration of dedication to personal advancement, her academic success showcases her ability to balance multiple responsibilities. Through it all, Ke’Undra maintains a GPA of 3.87.
Ke’Undra was not always this passionate about education, however. In her earlier years as a student of Robbinsdale Armstrong Senior High School, she viewed education more as a requirement or an item on a checklist of things she had to accomplish.
It was only after joining the military that she found an unlikely model for who and what she wanted to be. Witnessing the achievements of a supervisor with multiple degrees under their belt, Ke’Undra realized she could dream bigger.
With her family and friends counting on her, she had to dream bigger.
It seems fitting that today, she fills the same role as her former supervisor, serving as a beacon for those who were in her shoes all those years ago.
To what end is all this passion for education for? Of course, in part, this is for personal success, but Ke’Undra also wants to actively serve as an inspiration for others to pursue their own goals.
After all, if a single mother from Alabama, with all the struggles associated with that life, can do it, what excuse does anyone have?
The lives of a single mother, active service member, and student are a struggle each of their own, and one can only imagine the physical and emotional exhaustion a person who is all three has to contend with. This is all on top of the financial difficulties involved when it comes to sustaining these three roles rolled into one.
The difficulty of juggling deployments, work hours, parenting, and studies combined is so overwhelming that it isn’t hard to see even the best of us cave under the pressure. The weight of the struggle was so great that at one point, Ke’Undra even reported bouts of short-term memory loss.
However, while giving up under such circumstances might be understandable, to Ke’Undra, it was not acceptable. In a display of sheer perseverance she credits to her military experience, she took on these challenges head-on.
Ke’Undra explains her approach to this lifestyle as being comprised of focus, objectives, time management, and adaptability, all traits she had in herself, honed to a competitive edge by her years in service.
She learned to remain calm in high-pressure environments, handling the most complex problems by breaking them down into more manageable tasks. For each of these tasks, she assigned clear objectives she could accomplish.
Motivating her to keep going is a sense of purpose and a determination to serve a larger cause. She knows that her success is not just her own, keeping in her mind the people who rely on her: her son, her brother, and her mother.
“Financial defeat is not an option,” she notes when it comes to her family and their needs. This belief was put to the test when at one point, Ke’Undra had to handle her coursework, care for her son and brother, perform the duties of three positions at work, and finally, travel a full 17 hours to bring her mother home, all in succession.
Her brother and friends supported her during that time, granting her the strength to refuse to crumble. Her mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health were held in place by a mindset instilled by the Air Force: care for oneself in order to care for those around you and accomplish the mission.
Ke’Undra ultimately wants to put her years of education and experience to practical use with the end goal of establishing a healthcare clinic. In this rapidly materializing future, she intends to dedicate health services to women and children in underserved communities.
When Ke’Undra looks forward, she sees a clinic built on principles of compassion and dignity where she is surrounded by a team of skilled professionals providing valuable and complete care and support for patients. She believes that her continuing education is the key to achieving this vision.
Achieve it, she will, we believe. Ke’Undra’s focus on healthcare services is already being refined by her DBA studies, honing the expertise she needs to implement and manage innovative healthcare solutions to medical access problems that disadvantaged communities often face.
Eventually, she plans to integrate mentorship and leadership development into her clinic—a continuation of her current forte in the military—to create a diverse environment for positive change to grow.
New Mexico Financial & Family Law celebrates Ke’Undra Gibson, her achievements, and her stalwart determination. Hers is a story of the American spirit that we at our firm seek to honor with our scholarship.
Ke’Undra, we are proud to grant you the aid of our scholarship in the hopes that it brings you closer to your dream. We want you to know that to us and so many others, you are an icon of the character it takes to succeed as a single mother, a dedicated Air Force leader, and an exemplary student all in one.
You have shaped and continue to shape the futures of so many of our future leaders. You are unwavering in your dream of compassionate healthcare for those who need it the most.
Your ambition and accomplishments in the pursuit of it are the reason for many of us to aspire for greater things. Your commitment in the face of difficulty is a reminder for us that grit and wit are tools we all have to rise above adversity.
On behalf of everyone at New Mexico Financial & Family Law, thank you for your service. We are honored to provide the support we can provide on your journey to success, and we hope to see more of your excellence in the years to come.
Congratulations, Ke’Undra, on being the recipient of the 2024 Veterans’ Scholarship.
The New Mexico Financial and Family Law Veterans’ Scholarship is our annual award to the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces or their immediate family members. It is, if we at the firm may be so bold to say, an expression of our gratitude and our act of service for those who serve.
We open this program to students attending higher education in the United States or its territories. We offer equal opportunity to all applicants, requiring only that they be currently enrolled in an accredited higher education institution or have acceptance for a program beginning within six months of applying.
Grantees are chosen based on a combination of merits of past service, future ambitions, and dedication to the pursuit of a professional path. These factors are judged by a selection committee through an essay submitted by the applicant responding to the following prompts:
Winners are provided $500 in financial support, awarded in January for the following Spring semester.
CallCall now to schedule your consultation 505.503.1637
Office