Like many military kids, Jocelyn Borges’ life has been a series of moves—Illinois to Virginia, then to New York, Germany, California, and back to Virginia again.
With each new home came a new school, and with each new school, the same challenge: starting over.
“It’s been very hard for me to make friends and keep those friendships,” Jocelyn says. “The academic aspect of school always came naturally to me, and I consistently maintained good grades throughout each move. But the social aspect was hard.”
After graduating from high school, Jocelyn originally planned to join the Air Force and become a firefighter. But when that plan fell through, her parents encouraged her to attend Germanna to explore other possibilities.
“My parents told me it would be good to come to Germanna and have two years to figure out what I wanted to do,” Jocelyn says. “And they were right.”
Now a general studies student at Germanna, Jocelyn is confident about where she’s headed. She plans to transfer to the University of Mary Washington to earn her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and become a certified high school math teacher—with her sights set on eventually teaching at the college level.
“I’ve definitely figured out what I want to do with my life at Germanna,” she says, crediting Germanna with helping her find her academic path.
Her time at Germanna has also allowed her to reconnect with people from high school, open up socially, and get involved in ways that matter to her. She’s a member of Phi Theta Kappa, participates in Germanna’s Mentorship Program, and has been especially moved by college events like Military Appreciation Week in celebration of the Month of the Military Child.
“I love Germanna’s resources and all of the different activities it offers,” she says. “The Month of the Military Child celebrations resonated with me because while I’m a military child, I still learned a lot about the military that I didn’t previously know.”
Her mentorship experience has been especially impactful.
When she’s not on campus, Jocelyn also works downtown at Sprelly, a peanut butter and jelly shop, and is looking for ways to give back by connecting her job to Germanna’s food pantry initiatives. It’s a reflection of her growing desire to serve others—something she sees as central to her future as a teacher.
As Jocelyn prepares for a successful future in math education, she acknowledges that her career choice is inspired by her older brother, whose life took a dramatic turn after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After surviving what doctors said would be a terminal illness, he shifted his career path from engineering to education and now works as a high school teacher.
“I’m kind of following in his footsteps,” Jocelyn says. “He fell in love with helping others, and I think I would do the same, so teaching math would be a great job for me.”
Quiet and reserved by nature, Jocelyn is stepping into her future with confidence, driven by the belief that she can make math feel more approachable and accessible for the students who come after her. And thanks to Germanna, she’s no longer unsure of her direction.
“It’s fun to just figure things out,” she says. “And I’m doing that here.”