Like other Anne Arundel Community College students, Dysha Huggins-Hodge spends much of her time immersed in schoolwork. The one difference: Her online coursework can sometimes be interrupted by a warning of a direct-fire attack.
Then Huggins-Hodge, an Army staff sergeant stationed in Afghanistan, takes shelter with her fellow soldiers. "And when it's over," she says, "I go back to doing schoolwork."
An Athens, Ga., resident stationed with her family at Fort Meade, Huggins-Hodge has gone from being uninterested in college to excelling in one of AACC's most difficult curriculums, all amid the challenges that come with serving in the military during wartime.
Huggins-Hodge, 24, is pursuing a transfer studies degree at AACC. Since the 1970s, the school has been a Service Members Opportunity College, one of a consortium of schools that offer educational opportunities to service members and their families, AACC officials said.
Huggins-Hodge enrolled in classes at AACC in the summer of last year and then was deployed to Afghanistan about five months ago, leaving behind her husband, Clayton, and 22-month-old son, Micah, who are at Fort Meade. She said she decided to attend college after Micah was born, adding, "I just felt like I needed to be a better person."
In Afghanistan, Huggins-Hodge works as a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist, and she does unit status reporting, which means she must know the whereabouts of everyone in her battalion.
Initially, juggling school and military duties was so strenuous that she dropped a class en route to Afghanistan. As soon as she was settled, however, she signed up for the class again. She took five courses last semester, including sociology and principles of management.
Huggins-Hodge spoke during a recent morning interview while at Bagram Airfield, about 40 miles from Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, and 91/2 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
She said that she must always factor in time differences when it comes to talking with professors online or meeting course deadlines.
"It's been nonstop since I got over here," said Huggins-Hodge, adding that her day begins at 5 a.m. with physical training. She heads to work about 7:30 a.m. and at the end of her duties, around 5 p.m., she grabs a bite to eat and then begins her homework.
"Depending on how hard the class is, I can be doing homework until about 2 in the morning," said Huggins-Hodge, who said that she sometimes chats with her husband and son over the computer while doing schoolwork. "And then I go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again."
Yet Huggins-Hodge says that in many ways, being in school has helped her cope with deployment. She said that having structure and deadlines helps her day go smoothly and added, "My main goal is to be a social worker and thinking about my family and how that's going to help them, that's what helps me continue.
"It does get very strenuous at times, and there are times when … I don't want to get out of bed and do anything," Huggins-Hodge added. "But when I set out to do something, I try to do it to the best of my abilities.
"Maintaining my grade-point average really pushes me to do things when I don't want to do them, to do my homework when I don't want to do it. And definitely I try not to use being deployed as an excuse not to reach the same level as the other students."
Even if it means taking an oral exam via Skype.
"It was convenient in that it provided me a way to take my exam without the availability of a testing center like the other students use; however, it was a little more difficult because the answers weren't cut-and-dried," said Huggins-Hodge. "I had to actually know the material and be able to relate it to life experiences, as opposed to doing the usual multiple-choice or short-answer exams."
Felicia L. Patterson, AACC vice president of Learner Support Services, said that it is not uncommon for AAAC students in the military to continue their studies while deployed.
She said that most of its military students are in the Army and register with AACC through GoArmyEd, a program offered at Fort Meade that guides soldiers through the education process in accordance with their statuses and schedules. Patterson said AACC doesn't have exact figures on how many enlisted persons are enrolled at the school, because some online students do not mention their military status.
"Our faculty members recognize that our military students in deployed areas may face different challenges and they are resourceful in the ways that they reach our military students," Patterson said.
Stephen Steele, an AACC professor of sociology and futures studies who taught Huggins-Hodge in Introduction to Sociology, called her "a role model for all students."
"She did remarkably well; she's probably in the top 5 percent of all the students that I've encountered in almost four decades of teaching higher education," said Steele. "The way my courses are set up, you really have to do some extraordinary thinking to get an 'A,' and under the circumstances in which she's operating in Afghanistan, she did extraordinarily well."
Huggins-Hodge's husband, Clayton, who is stationed at Fort Meade, said that military students face difficulty with their courses when 11th-hour tasks arise.
"No matter what else is going on, the mission comes first. She can't do her homework until she's done with her mission. And on top of that, if communication goes down, you're depending on your teacher to be understanding," he said.
But he said that his wife's efforts have inspired him to work harder to excel. "I honestly don't know how she does it," said Clayton. "I don't think I have the level of motivation and drive that she does."
Huggins-Hodge is slated to graduate in May. She regrets being away from her family, and adds that the dangers associated with being in Afghanistan are stressful at times.
"But focusing on school," she said, "takes my mind off of what's going on around me."