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Volume XLIV
‘City 0/Roses’ " î y r
Number 52
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www.portlandobserver.com
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Wednesday • December 31, 2014
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Portland Navy Recruiter Alexis Clark says she is living proof that you can succeed in a military career while also having a family, raising a child as a single mom and
going to school.
’
A
Drive
to
Succeed
Naval officer is
‘living proof’ of
challenges met
O livia O livia
T he P ortland O bserver
by
A lexis C lark is changing the way
Portlander’s sign up for the Navy. Her will
ingness to share personal challenges and
professional accomplishments with future
sailors and officer applicants helps increase
the knowledge of the contributions of women
in the armed forces.
A recruiter for the Navy in Portland, she
keeps an eye for potential and a lookout for
others to follow in her path.
“I’m working on my masters, I’ve travelled
halfway around the world, I’ve received a
wide array of exposure to Navy medicine,”
Clark says. “There’s nothing I haven’t done
that I didn’t want to do.”
Among a select number of women in com
mand, Clark specializes in the recruitment of
medical and dental professionals.
She deliberately aimed for the job, a diffi
cult title to snatch since the fleet demand for
medical personnel is huge. She managed to
snag the full-time position all while raising a
child as a single mom and going to school.
“I see women who are more driven in their
careers but not sure how to incorporate it
into their lives,” says Clark. “You can have
a family and still go to college and be suc
cessful in your career. You can do it all at
once if you have the stamina and the motiva
tion and drive to do so. I’m living proof.”
Clark was bom to a military family - having
spent her first few years abroad as her family
was stationed in Germany. She managed to
move through five different states before
graduating from high school.
Inspired by her parents, she joined the
Navy as soon as she was old enough. Oddly
enough, her sign-up came just one day be
fore the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
She soon obtained her dream job as a
Hospital Corpsman and was stationed at
Naval Hospital Great Lakes in Illinois. It was
here that her passion for preventive medi
cine was fulfilled.
It is also where would face a personal chal
lenge that she was less prepared for: Single
motherhood. Clark felt no shame nor does she
hesitate to share her surprise - that her son’s
father abandoned her during her pregnancy.
“Now I have to work twice as hard to do
what I want to do while doing what I need to
do,” says Clark. She gives credit to the sup-
continued
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