This year’s Veteran’s Day program at Syracuse University featured a keynote speaker who not only served 20 years as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, but also was an accomplished athlete and Olympic hopeful. Lieutenant Commander (retired) Laurie Coffey has now turned her sights on law school.
The Corning native says she was determined and confident as a young girl, and never thought twice about gender barriers from her pre-teen track and field days to being a four-year starter in Division I basketball at the U.S. Naval Academy. She even trained for the 2000 Olympics with the US National Rowing Team, but that dream was cut short when she injured her Achilles tendon while trying out for the WNBA.
“Sometimes we're constrained by what we perceive as our limitations and to look beyond that to the horizon that's you might not even know it's possible," Coffey said of her many pursuits.
For Coffey, that horizon was often seen from the cockpit of an F/A-18 Hornet, where she amassed 100 combat hours, 2,400 flight hours, and 300 carrier landings (more than half at night) in support of operation Iraqi Freedom. She says her years of military service put things in perspective.
“We sometimes look at our country and we don't realize how amazing it is and how important it is for the preservation of what we have," Coffey said. "As a democracy, when you've joined the service and you see other cultures and countries and societies, you really realize how lucky, by the accident of birth, that we were able to come to this country because what we have here is really special.”
Coffey says for her, service has been a lifetime aspiration.
“When you do things for others and when you serve for others, it gives back to yourself as well," Coffey said. "You feel a sense of purpose and passion that's beyond yourself, and that's a very fulfilling role to have in a profession. And I think I share that with all my fellow veterans.”
Now, Coffey is a full-time second year law student at SU’s College of Law where she hopes to apply those skills to advocate for and shape legislation.
"Those are where the real changes come to help your local community," Coffey said. "The ones that help shape and write laws and influence can really help the people in your community. I think local community action is where you can really make a difference."
